Brotherly Bonding Time: The Month of Jolly June
by CrazyNutBob
Summary: Sequel to Brother Bothers. To continue their reconciliation, Cheese Sandwich has dragged his brother, Tomato, on a summer road trip, where they'll throw many parties and meet many ponies. Not all will be sunshine and rainbows, as mishaps, self-doubts, and sibling conflicts may get the duo into more trouble than they thought-from the hilarious to the horrifying. Part 1 of 3.
1. A Good Ol' Break

Manehattan-the city that never sleeps. Filled with a variety of ponies running in the streets and skyscrapers dominating the landscape, there were sights to see and wonders to behold. Many an outsider gazed up at the sheer height the buildings often reached, and many an outsider zoomed towards the famous places that the city held. Some took a ferry to see the statue in the bay, others opted to see a show on Bridleway, and there were those who took a trip to the park instead. There were many things to do in the city, some well-known, and others obscure.

Of course, there were some ponies who just wanted to get away from it.

It was a warm, late spring day. A taxi carriage stopped in front of the train station, the thick-muscled puller announcing the stop to his two passengers. With a word of thanks, a light green mare jumped out first, her mouth latched onto her suitcase and her hoof brushing her strawberry blonde mane out of her eyes. She was followed by a vermilion stallion, who stretched his entire body, from his head to his slick, dark brown tail. He stood erect to his full height, which was a full head taller than the mare, and adjusted his glasses.

The mare waved goodbye to the taxi pony, and she and her friend started walking up the steps. As she glanced back at the pony taking off running to his next destination, she mumbled, "Gee, that was a wild ride."

Her friend answered, "Don't worry, I've had worse, Flora."

Flora jumped to the top, pausing to wait for Tomato to catch up. "I wonder why he was so jumpy, Tomato. It's not like we were going to pounce on him with violent intentions."

Tomato shrugged, reaching the top of the stairs, and continuing forward until he paused to open the door. "You never know. I just think he got yelled at and was expecting us to do the same." He glanced at Flora and quirked an eyebrow. "Or perhaps he found you pretty and was too flustered to think straight."

Flora scowled and lightly punched his front leg as she walked past him. "That's not funny."

"Funny is not my business," Tomato replied, waiting until Flora was inside before shutting the door. "That's the department where Nimbus, Cheese, and Bananas reside."

Flora rolled her eyes. With a smirk, she asked, "Speaking of Cheese... are you excited for your vacation with him?"

Tomato smiled and nodded. "Indeed. It was his idea. I think his Cheesy Sense might have told him that I need to spend more than a weekend away from this city."

Flora sighed. "I know I do. This place is so fast-paced I get a little dizzy just thinking about it. I can't wait to go back home." She beamed and giggled. "I betcha that all my siblings are going to jump on me and squeeze the air out of me."

Tomato chuckled. "I can imagine that. I mean... how do you live with seven siblings? I only have one sibling and well... you know about the stupid feud we had until last fall." He narrowed his eyes. "Tell me your secret."

Flora rolled her eyes. "I grew up with them. Granted, I was an only child until Bananas was born, but I just rolled with each new birth and took it as a learning experience. They know I'm on the top of the sibling pecking order... but Olive just loves to challenge me."

Tomato whickered. "She thinks it'd be fun to be top dog?"

"Yep. She doesn't seem to get the part that being the oldest comes with responsibilities. You're essentially a mini-parent for ponies that are simultaneously your best friend and your worst enemy."

"Huh. Well, I wouldn't know, I'm the youngest in my family."

Flora laughed. "I wonder if ponies saw you and Cheese together and thought you were older."

Tomato snorted. "The last time I was with Cheese was Hearth's Warming. He dragged me to a party, and it was fun. Of course, I got a stomachache from eating too much. But those cookies were dipped in the chocolate pudding and it was the most sweet chocolate I've ever tasted in my life. And then there were the meringue shells that were the perfect combination of crunchy and chewy, and the tortes, and the tarts, and just about everything there. He had to drag me away from the table because he feared that I was going to throw up."

Flora laughed some more. "Oh, goodness! I didn't even ask if you had a sweet tooth."

Tomato flushed redder than his coat. "Oops... caught in a tangent."

Flora just beamed at him and shook her head. "Under that suit and slicked down mane is just a huge dork."

Tomato was still blushing, but he was now glaring at her. "Gee, thanks."

Flora blinked and raised an eyebrow. "An endearing dork that I'm proud to consider my friend. I know for certain my folks would like you. Anyway, watch my luggage, I got to go buy my ticket, I'll be back in a jiffy."

She turned and trotted to the ticket booth, and Tomato just sat on a nearby bench and started to strum the large forelock curl gracing his mane, his tail holding Flora's suitcase. He looked up at the clock, noting that it was half past twelve. He glanced around the station, seeing some ponies board the train, some ponies get off the train, and some ponies either entering or exiting the station's front entrance. He scanned the crowd for either a brown serape or a loud yellow shirt. Or perhaps a rubber chicken.

All the while, he couldn't help but wonder what was in store for him. He knew that he was going to go to a LOT of parties. After all, with his brother being a party pony, it was inevitable. If there were ponies out there that recognized Cheese Sandwich, how would they react to his brother Tomato Sandwich? Hopefully those meetings would be much less disastrous than the day Tomato met Pinkie Pie.

He remembered that day both with fondness and disdain. On the one hoof, it was the day that he and Cheese had decided to end their feud and try being "best brother buddies" like when they were colts. On the other hoof, a lot of things were broken, a lot of ponies were unhappy, and relations between the brothers could have been damaged beyond repair. Tomato's foreleg ached upon remembering the stage collapsing, resulting in the limb fracturing from the fall and the combined weight of his body and Cheese's accordion. That was not fun.

And somehow, everything worked out. That disaster did knock some sense into them.

True to the party pony style, Cheese Sandwich in cowpony gear popped into Tomato's vision upside-down and with a grin, exclaiming, "Hey, baby bro!"

Tomato looked up and saw he was hanging from a rope attached to the ceiling. It was best not to question things like that. He looked back at Cheese's face and replied, "Hello, Cheese."

Cheese flipped off the rope and stuck a perfect landing on two hooves. He bowed dramatically before going back to four hooves and grinning. "So, are you ready for a road trip? I've got extra thingamahoozies and stuff packed for for the three of us."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Three?"

Cheese nodded. "You, me, and Boneless 2."

"Oh."

Cheese slid over and grabbed him, gesturing dramatically toward the ceiling. "Yes, brother, we are about to embark the adventure of a lifetime! We will get dusty and dirty, we will get hungry, and cold, and tired, and we might run into some poisonous plants, venomous animals, and plenty of crazy ponies. But it will be glorious, and we will party hard!"

Tomato rolled his eyes. He could just feel some ponies staring at them. "My overdue teenage rebellion; Mom's going to hate it. So... where are we going first?"

Cheese dropped him. "I have no idea!"

Sitting up and rubbing his head, Tomato looked up at him with a glare. "What do you mean you don't know? Didn't you plan anything out?"

Cheese turned and tapped his cutie mark. "I just go wherever Cheesy Sense says I need to go. But no worries, baby bro, I'll get you back home before Fall Semester begins."

Flora returned with her ticket. She looked at Cheese with surprise, and smiled warmly. "Hello, Cheese!"

Cheese tipped his hat. "Pleasure to see you again, Flora. How's life treating you? Is Tommy behaving?"

"Life's been pretty good, though I've had my sour days. And yes, Tomato's been good. He's not one for getting into trouble."

Cheese chuckled. "You should have seen him as a colt. He nearly killed himself all the time. Running into the street, ferry, bridge, pack of dogs... you name it."

Flora tilted her head. "Um... pack of dogs?"

Tomato butted in with, "You don't want to know."

Flora pursed her lips and glanced upward. "You're not the only one who had to deal with a mischievous younger sibling, Cheese. About half of my siblings got into trouble on a regular basis."

Tomato then added, "But she's top dog."

Flora rolled her eyes. "Ruff ruff."

Cheese laughed, and then asked Tomato. "Have you met her siblings yet?"

Tomato shook his head, and Cheese scratched his chin. Upon seeing Flora shrug, Cheese said, "You know, if we're lucky, my Cheesy Sense will lead us to wherever you live and a nice party will be thrown and then we can meet your family. After all, I was lucky enough to meet my friend Pinkie's family in Nickerlite."

Flora gave him a funny look. "Um... where is that?"

Cheese lifted his serape and started to rummage through one of its inside pockets. "Now, I'm sure I have a map somewhere in here..."

The train whistled, and Flora gasped. "Sorry, no time for that, I've got to board the train home!" She shook Cheese's hoof, gave Tomato a hug, and picked up her suitcase. As she cantered off, she waved and said, "Bye, guys! I'll see you later!"

The two stallions watched her take off, and looked at each other. Cheese nudged Tomato and clicked his tongue playfully, accompanied with the waggling of the eyebrows. Tomato shot him a funny look and said, "Cheese, you know that's getting old. Our relationship is platonic."

"Yeah... sure... so where does she live?" Cheese took out the map he was looking for and looked at it.

"Neighton."

Cheese frowned. "Which Neighton? There's several on here. There's one several miles away from Manehattan, one north of Las Pegasus, one near Cloudsdale, one under Canterlot, one in the Salt Lick Valley, one by the San Palomino Desert, one near Detrot, one several miles east of Seaddle-"

"She never specified."

"Huh." Cheese folded the map and stuffed it back in his pocket. He smiled at Tomato and said, "So, ready to go?"

Tomato looked down at his body. "I guess?"

Cheese smirked. "There is one last thing..." He pulled out an extra serape and hat, and he put both on Tomato faster than one could wink. Once he was finished, Cheese stepped back and admired his work. "Yep, you're definitely ready, my fellow cowpony."

Tomato looked at the outfit that Cheese had just dressed him in. His serape was striped with different shades of brown and yellow, and looking up, he could tell his hat was a tan color. He looked at Cheese with a dead serious expression, pulled his green tie from the neckhole, and tied it into a bow.

"I am a cowspy."

* * *

 **A/N: CrazyNutBob presents...**

 **The sequel to _Brother Bothers!_**

 **Join Cheese and Tomato Sandwich as they travel across Equestria, throwing all kinds of parties, getting into all kinds of mishaps, and dealing with all kinds of conflicts-both external and internal! But, will this trip bring them closer or drive them apart again? Let's find out!**


	2. Just the Two of Us

Once out of the city, Cheese found his body relaxing. He briefly glanced back at Manehattan, the one city that made him tense whenever Cheesy Sense called for a party there. There were more unpleasant memories there than pleasant ones, so he had tried multiple times to break away from it. But, there was still one tie there, which was the pony walking beside him.

Tomato had been his one remaining tie to Manehattan, thanks to Cheesy Sense always insisting that there had been unfinished business in the city. For years, they had believed that if they pretended the other didn't exist, everything would just work out. Cheese especially had the pressure of keeping a happy face for other ponies-after all, who ever heard of a party pony in a feud with his brother? He inwardly cringed at the memory of how he had just exploded in front of the entire town of Ponyville at the Fall Festival.

Perhaps that anger needed to be released in order for him to see how much Tomato had really been hurting. Cheese didn't have the full story behind his transformation from happy colt to sour stallion-he had only the bits where salt was thrown into Tommy's wounds by Cheese himself-but from what he could gather, it wasn't the happiest story. Even if Tomato was noticeably happier, Cheese knew that was more that needed to be done.

Hopefully, pulling him out of Manehattan and away from their parents would improve things. Cheese prayed that Tomato would move out of the city as soon as possible, for both of their benefits.

It was then that he realized that things were awkwardly quiet. The silence being awkward was a strange feeling; Cheese was used to quiet, since he often traveled alone and only talked with Boneless 2. But now that a living, breathing pony was traveling beside him, he felt like he was wasting a chance for a conversation. Of course, he couldn't predict just what Tomato was going to say, and he kept on assuming the worst coming out of his younger brother's mouth.

He noticed Tomato turning to him. Cheese braced himself for an insult out of the blue, reminding him about how he was the family disappointment, wondering how he managed to survive on his own for years-

"You're awfully quiet, Cheese," Tomato said. "Thinking up ideas for the next party?"

Cheese wanted to slap himself for falling into that old line of thinking. He had convinced himself that Tomato had been turning into their mother and became as stagnant in his attitude as she was in hers. Cheese suspected those friends of his kept him from going all the way.

Of course, not wanting to leave the question unanswered, Cheese answered, "Well, I do use the time in between parties thinking up of new ideas."

Tomato nodded. "Can't wait to see those ideas in action. You always were the creative one."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "You had your moments of creativity, too, you know."

"Yeah... but I'm going to admit that I've always been jealous of how artistic you were. I still only draw ponies as incomprehensible blobs."

Cheese blinked as he processed that, and then laughed. "Oh, yeah, I remember that picture you drew of our family years ago. I remember I was the blob with big eyes and a circle for hair and you were the blob with small eyes and a single black curl."

"Those 'big eyes' were your glasses."

"Oh, really? Explains why Dad's blob had them too." Cheese looked at Tomato's glasses. "Do you draw yourself with big eyes nowadays?"

Tomato shook his head. "Nah, I don't draw much. My talent never was in art. I do not understand how ponies can draw a straight line, let alone an accurate profile of Princess Celestia."

"A lot of ponies have practiced since they were little. I once met a filly who earned her cutie mark early because she was very obsessed with drawing."

"I suppose I couldn't sit still long enough to learn. Eh, not like it mattered in the long run: my talent is in the area of finances."

"Your cutie mark makes that a little obvious." Cheese threw his hat up, started walking on his two front legs, and caught the hat with his tail, twirling it. "But, hey! That's not the only thing you can do, bro-you can sing, remember?"

"If you're trying to convince me to perform with you at one of your parties, sorry, not happening."

Cheese pouted. "But we went caroling..."

Tomato sighed. "I appreciate that you think I have a decent singing voice, but I'm not a performer like you. I don't want to draw any attention to myself."

Cheese narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow. _Funny, you loved attention when we were little. You were always begging for mine, even when you had everyone else's._ Taking a deep breath, he said, "Well... you have to have something to do when it comes to setting up the party. After all, it wouldn't be fair for me to leave you out."

"I can just read a book while you plan the party." Tomato forced his hoof into his hat, presumably to scratch his ear. "So... when is that Cheesy Sense of yours going to activate? I'd like to have an idea of where we're going."

Cheese fell back on all four hooves. "It'll do that in it's own sweet time. For now, let's just relax and keep on walking forward."

Tomato pulled at the neckhole of his serape. "Hopefully the heat doesn't kill me."

* * *

Their first day out was rather uneventful. All that had happened was just the pair walking, with Cheese singing impromptu road songs and throwing ideas out on Tomato, who was a little confused and not very helpful with his feedback. They exchanged stories of their daily lives, and laughed over the antics of party goers or one of Tomato's friends. They came across a family of deer crossing their path, and a rather friendly cat and dog duo. They passed a few ponies on their way, with Cheese tipping his hat to each.

Much of Tomato's time was spent looking around at the scenery. Cheese wondered how their neighbors would react to the supposedly stiff and humorless younger Sandwich son with the look of childlike wonder on his face as he took in new sights. Knowing their parents were hardly the vacation type, he could see Tomato didn't get out of the city much. Cheese could hardly wait to show what other sights Equestria had to offer. If Tommy had read about it, there was a chance he'd see it in person.

Tomato did have a few complaints about the heat, which Cheese responded to by pulling him to the next stream, and playfully splashing him. Tomato scowled at him each time for that, and then silently drank from the stream. And Cheese would sigh in exasperation.

The sun was just descending in the horizon when they made their stop for the night. The field that was chosen had soft and cool grass, and Cheese did not hesitate to leap forward-with Boneless 2 flying off and Tomato catching the chicken-and begin rolling in it. He laughed aloud as he let each blade gently brush his coat and the coolness seep into his skin. Once he stopped rolling, he gave a blissful sigh and looked at the sunset, blending bright orange and luminescent pink. He especially focused on the pink, and imagined wide and bright blue eyes among the color, staring back at him.

Tomato strolled up to him, and laid down beside him. "Well... that sunset is beautiful."

Cheese sighed once again. "She sure is."

Tomato gave him a funny look. "I never knew that it had a gender. Tell me, is the sunrise a boy?"

Cheese blushed and sat up. "Did I say 'she'? 'It', I meant 'it'."

Tomato held his curious expression just a little bit longer, until he shrugged off Cheese's fumble. It was then his turn to blush as his stomach growled. "Uh... what's for dinner?"

Cheese grinned at him and took off his hat, giving it to him. To Tomato's surprise, there were tortilla chips in the hat, which didn't bear any strand of Cheese's hair in them and were completely intact. He confusedly looked between the chips and Cheese, and gingerly poked at one of the chips, seeing if they were real.

"Um, Cheese? How did you manage to conceal these... and _not_ drop them when you tipped your hat at strangers. Or not crush them with your head?"

Cheese chuckled. "They're leftovers from my last party." He pulled out a pair of maracas and shook them. "It was quite a fiesta!"

Tomato was even more confused. "I didn't ask where you got them."

Cheese blinked, and threw the maracas away, groaning. "You know how a magician never reveals his secrets? Well, neither does a party pony." _Besides, it'll be impossible to explain in a way that a non-party pony can understand and not be broken._

Tomato pouted. "I won't tell anypony."

"Tomato, in case you didn't understand, that meant 'no'," Cheese said firmly.

"I don't see why you can't just tell your own brother what's going on."

"Ugh... Tommy, it'll ruin the magic. Besides, your head would explode from the weird complexities of my career. Now, stop asking, and just eat your chips like a good little ketchup squirt."

Tomato groaned and rolled his eyes. He leaned forward and sniffed the chips. "Are these safe to eat?"

"Yes!" Cheese shouted.

Tomato jumped from the volume of Cheese's voice. He then stared at the chips, with only slow blinks gracing his face. Awkward silence was filling the air again, and there weren't even crickets to break the silence. Cheese stared at Tomato, who for some reason seemed to be mesmerized by the food in the hat. Cheese whickered in annoyance.

"Are you going to eat it?" he asked, forcing a smile.

Tomato looked up. "What are you going to eat?"

Cheese blinked, and then shook his head. "Uh-uh, don't worry about me, I've been feeding myself for years." He narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. _"Just... eat it."_

Tomato merely gave him a half-lidded look and a raised eyebrow. He held this look as he took a chip, and munched into it. He chewed it for a bit, his eyes veering away from Cheese, and then swallowed. He smacked his lips and tapped his chin.

Cheese was stamping his hoof. "Well?"

Tomato looked straight at him. "Well, it doesn't taste like it's been in your hair."

Cheese blinked, and then forced a laugh. "Of course! Even if it did taste like that, I know for a fact that my hair tastes better than yours."

Tomato shrugged. "You're right on that account."

He ate another tortilla chip. And another. And another. And another.

* * *

Night had now fallen. Though they could see the lights of Manehattan in the distance, neither of them were focused on that. They were instead focused on the stars above them, lying on the grass and using both their serapes as blankets. The moon shone its gentle, silver light on the brothers, and stood out beautifully against the dark blue sky.

"I spy with my little eye... a triangle," Tomato said bluntly.

Cheese spread his arms out in front of him. "I see a glorious picture of a dancing rubber chicken!" He gasped and thrust Boneless 2 upward. "Boneless 2, your brother is up there! Princess Luna created a constellation honoring him for his sacrifice!"

Tomato turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Why would she honor a rubber chicken?"

Cheese glared at him and held Boneless 2 close. "A guy can dream, can't he?"

Tomato sighed and shook his head. He looked forward once again, and said, "Okay, this time I see a smiley face."

Cheese nodded. "Yeah, I can see it too. Meanwhile, over there..." Cheese pointed to a random spot in the sky. "I see... I see... three balloons."

"Huh, balloons, okay."

Cheese chuckled and sighed. "Yeah... balloons..." Patting his belly, he just stared out into the dark sky. "Say... do you ever wonder what's out there?"

Tomato rubbed his eye. "Not really. I try to keep my focus here on this planet."

Cheese put his hooves under his head. "Well, I do. I wonder if there's life beyond us ponies and dragons and griffons and whatnot. I wonder what kind of creatures live on other planets, and how they live their lives. What are their parties like? How do they have fun?"

Tomato scratched his chin. "Huh... that is food for thought... Now that I think of it, how do they run their economy? What kind of trade do they participate in? What do they use for money?"

"What kind of music do they listen to? What kind of instruments do they play?"

"What kind of books do they read? In what ways do they learn?"

"What kind of holidays do they celebrate?"

"What kind of work do they do?"

"What kind of magic do they possess?"

"What do they even look like?"

Cheese shrugged. "Dunno. But I know my counterpart's name is Alfred."

Tomato gave him a funny look. "Alfred? Okay, you just named an alien after your middle name."

Cheese laughed. "You got me there, baby bro. By the way, your counterpart's name is Matthew."

"That's _my_ middle name," Tomato deadpanned.

Cheese nodded. "And now we have pet aliens! I betcha that on the planet they live on, they're cowspies, fighting the evil Dr. Sauerkraut to keep him from taking over their world!"

Tomato covered his mouth, but a few laughs managed to escape. "Pet aliens? Okay, you're ridiculous."

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"

"Of course. But, eh, knowing ridiculous ponies keeps my life from being boring, especially if you're related to one of them." He glanced at Cheese. "But you're the good ridiculous."

Cheese looked up at the sky again. "Just like Pinkie Pie."

"Eh, I won't be surprised if you two get married."

Cheese leapt to his hooves. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Tomato, I keep telling you, Pinkie's a friend. Seriously, where do you keep getting that idea?"

"The story of how she inspired you to become a party pony does sound like a 'love at first sight' kind of thing." Tomato sat up and blew on his forelock. "And I've seen the way you look at her; I've seen a lot of ponies with that look on campus."

Before Cheese could respond, his eyes widened and his body began to quake. Accordion notes could be heard from his flank, and he leapt up into the air. "Whoo! Okay, Tommy, the Cheesy Sense has spoken!"

"Took long enough," Tomato muttered.

Cheese bit his lip and squealed. "And, boy oh boy, what a first stop for our trip! Haha, it's none other than the place that started my career!" Cheese started to do cartwheels around the field. "Oh, sweet Celestia, what luck! What does Ponyville have planned? Oh, I bet it's something big, and it's going to be epic, and I'm going to plan with Pinkie Pie again-" Cheese stopped upon seeing the smug look on Tomato's face.

Tomato chuckled. "Yeah... going to plan a party with Pinkie Pie again..." He straightened up and stuck his nose in the air. "Platonically, of course."

Cheese's face flushed. He sat on his haunches, and tapped his two front hooves, glaring at his brother. There was no way that Tomato was going to have the last laugh! Providing a comeback about Flora would have been too predictable, but there was one other filly he could namedrop...

"Yeah, planning a party with Pinkie is sweet, I'll tell you that... but you know what else is sweet?" Cheese snickered at Tomato's fading smile. "Creme Brulee."

Tomato's face turned beet red, and a scowl crossed his face. He ground his teeth, and he hid under his serape, snapping, "We are never speaking of that witch!"

Cheese only laughed in response.

* * *

 **A/N: The journey has just begun, and not much has happened yet. Eh, it's only the second chapter, I'm sure we'll get to something exciting sooner or later.**

 **If I need to explain the Creme Brulee thing, she was a filly that Tomato had a crush on when he was a colt. He got over the crush, and now loathes her to this day.**

 **And of course, first stop, Ponyville! What are they going to do there?**


	3. First Stop

Setting off to Ponyville, the pair was lucky that little difficulty had come upon them on their way there. The weather was nice, the days were peaceful, and none of the animals that they encountered were hostile. Tomato had been expecting more, but he supposed that his imagination prior to the trip had just been running wild with every possible thing that could go wrong. Still, with the journey just beginning, they still needed to be on guard.

Still, it didn't prevent him from being curious about the surroundings he and Cheese found themselves in on a daily basis. Very rarely had their family taken trips, and even then the trips were usually not far from Manehattan. The farthest that Tomato had been personally was to Ponyville, and that was with friends.

Never had he thought that he'd see so many beautiful fields and meadows and forests within a short time. Never had he seen such a variety of flora and fauna comfortable in the environments that they called home. And never had he slept in a different place each night, exchanging stories, counting stars, and partaking in leftover party food that Cheese somehow carried around.

Soon enough, Cheese was sensing that they were drawing near to Ponyville.

Cheese's excitement was palpable. It was obvious to Tomato that Ponyville was his brother's favorite place in the world, if only for a certain pink mare. He figured that if Cheese were to settle down, it'd most likely be there, where he could see Pinkie Pie. After all, often seeing the pony that had inspired you would most likely be exhilarating.

Cheese was speaking a lot about Pinkie and her "absolute perfection". Tomato raised an eyebrow, seeing as his own interaction with Pinkie was anything _but_ perfect. Still, he had seen newlyweds with the same sparkle in their eyes that Cheese had. He had seen many couples on moonlit strolls in the park, with smiles very similar to the one on a daydreaming Cheese. And he had talked with classmates who had gushed over their special somepony, not unlike Cheese did about Pinkie.

Looking at Cheese and sensing his excitement, Tomato couldn't help but feel disappointment about one certain couple, who despite being married, was definitely lacking in love. He wondered if one or both parties had felt that swell of emotions that many a pony had felt, and what it was like for them until things went stale. Looking back, things already been pretty empty at least back to Tomato's first memory of them.

He shook his head and snorted. _Think happy thoughts, Tommy. We're just about to arrive at our first stop, throw our first party on this trip, and if Cheese does turn out to be in love with Pinkie, be supportive of him._

That's when Cheese turned to him. "Hey... is everything all right?"

Tomato cleared his throat. "My mind's just wandering, that's all. Why do you ask?"

"You were looking kind of sour."

Tomato blew a quick raspberry. "Well, I'm trying to think happy thoughts. Say, how long until we get there?"

Cheese smiled, grabbed Tomato's foreleg, and dragged him up the hill. He stopped at the crest, and did a grand gesture toward a simple little town. Rising above the humble homes was a grand, crystalline tree, gleaming in the sunlight. Though Tomato still felt that it clashed with the rest of the town, he supposed that it was a grand enough home for a princess.

A grinning Cheese then said, "Here we are... Ponyville."

* * *

The two slipped into town, with Cheese listening around for hints of what the party was about. So far, all he had heard was snippets of conversations that he was certain had nothing to do with the party. He had noticed the townsfolk staring at the two ponies in cowpony getup, but that was par for the course.

Behind him, he noticed Tomato pulling his hat over his face, glancing nervously at the townsponies. It was peculiar seeing him act so shy, but perhaps he just wasn't used to the staring. Cheese stretched out his tail to pull him closer and patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. "Don't worry, these ponies take weirdness in stride. We'll be fine."

He noticed the ponies whisper, although there were a few who weren't very quiet. He heard murmurs of "Aren't they hot under those ponchos?" and "Is that who I think it is?" and some similar things, but he and Tommy still needed to be low key until they met up with Pinkie.

They found themselves at town hall, looking around the square for any sign of Pinkie or her friends.

"So, where do you suppose she usually is?" Tomato asked. "What does she do when she's not throwing a party?"

"Well..." Cheese began. "She lives and works at Sugarcube Corner, sometimes does some Friendship Council stuff with her friends in Twilight's castle, goes around cheering ponies up, spends time with her friends, plays with me whenever I drop by, sometimes she goes off saving Equestria-"

Tomato gave him a funny look. "Are you saying that she could be anywhere?"

"Well, yeah... but hey, if a party's going to be thrown here, that means she's in town and not out saving Equestria!" He pursed his lips and tapped his chin. "I wonder if she and her friends have done that recently..."

"I just hope this party's not a funeral."

Cheese shot him a glare. "Tommy, I don't plan funerals-unless they're for a fellow party pony that wants to have ponies celebrating their life instead of crying over their death." He noticed Tomato's skeptical look, and then covered his mouth when he realized what he said. "Please, Pinkie, don't be dead..."

A giggle sounded above them. "Silly Cheese, I'm not dead!"

Cheese looked up and locked eyes with the pink-coated and raspberry-maned mare that they had been speaking of. She was hanging upside-down from the railing of the hall's second floor balcony, and wearing the most adorable smile on her face. He was in awe of how her blue eyes were gleaming, and for a moment, he felt like it was just the two of them in the world.

Of course, he snapped out of his trance, and exclaimed, "Heya, Pinkie!"

Pinkie held a huge grin as she waved, and then fell ungracefully from the railing and landed face first in the dust. Cheese gasped and rushed to her side, while Tomato winced.

As Cheese helped her up, Pinkie said, "No worries, I'm okay."

Cheese was brushing dust off of her coat. "Goodness, Pinkie, you need to work on your landings."

Pinkie puffed out her cheeks. "Not as much as Boneless 2 needs to work on his dancing-last I saw him, he was a little rusty."

Cheese looked at the rubber chicken on his back. "He's been practicing, Pinkie... honest!"

Pinkie giggled, and looked at Tomato. "Hiya, Tommy! Lookin' good in that cowpony outfit!"

"Uh... thanks," Tomato mumbled.

Cheese chuckled and looked around. "Okay, Pinkie... who's the party for, and what do I need to do?"

Pinkie's smiled faded and she tilted her head. "I wasn't planning a party."

Cheese was taken aback by that statement. "What do you mean, Pinkie? My Cheesy Sense lead me here, and told me that this party was going to be a doozy." He looked worriedly at Tomato, who looked just as confused as he was.

Pinkie gasped. "Really? You mean there's somepony planning a big shindig without me? Or there's a party for ghosts around here somewhere? Or maybe it's the birthday of one of Fluttershy's animals? I know today's not anypony's birthday..."

Cheese checked his mental calendar. It was already past Pinkie's birthday, and it was definitely not the Summer Sun Celebration yet. He didn't know if there were any festivals that Ponyville had this time of year, and like Pinkie said, it wasn't anypony's birthday. What was going on here?

A trio of fillies-one on a scooter and towing the other two in a wagon-nearly crashed into Cheese, which made him jump in surprise and land in Pinkie's forelegs. The one on the scooter exclaimed, "There you are, Pinkie! Geez, I thought we'd never find you."

Cheese climbed out of Pinkie's forelegs. "Huh?"

Pinkie waved to the fillies. "Hi, Scootaloo! Hi, Apple Bloom! Hi, Sweetie Belle! Hehehe, you wouldn't believe it, Cheese and Tomato Sandwich stumbled upon my hiding spot, and I couldn't help but say hi!"

Apple Bloom hopped out of the wagon. "Well, they sure made hide-and-seek with ya easier!" She turned to the two stallions. "Howdy, Cheese Sandwich! Howdy, Cheese's brother!"

"Pinkie just said his name was Tomato," Sweetie Belle said. She looked up, smiled, and waved at Tomato, who waved back.

"Eh, repeat it often and it'll stick," Tomato said.

Cheese chuckled, and then asked, "Say... you fillies wouldn't happen to know of any kind of special event that's happening in this town, do you? My Cheesy Sense brought me here, and it hasn't failed me before."

The fillies nervously looked between each other, and at Pinkie, who was starting to look suspicious. Cheese could see the beads of sweat forming on the fillies' foreheads, the nervous pawing at the ground, and the glancing around at seemingly random places. That's when he started to connect the dots.

Suddenly, Scootaloo blurted out, "Pinkie! Tell us your cutie mark story!"

Pinkie blinked. "Did you forget it?" She tapped her chin. "Or did I forget to tell you about it..."

"Well, uh... better safe than sorry?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Eeyup," Apple Bloom added. "Why don't we take you to the Crusaders' clubhouse, and you can tell us there?"

Sweetie Belle jumped excitedly. "Yeah, because we have snacks!"

"Ooh, I'm up for a good snack!" Pinkie clapped her hooves.

"Yeah, and when you're finished... uh..." Scootaloo looked at the two stallions. "Maybe Cheese and Potato can tell us their stories."

Cheese stifled a laugh, while Tomato put a hoof to his face. The latter sighed and said, "Wrong produce."

"Oh, whatever, let's just go!"

Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Er... go on without me. I've got to locate the event that caused my Cheesy Sense to go off." He noticed the sad look on Pinkie's face. "Don't worry, Pinkie, once all is said and done, we can have plenty of time to catch up."

Pinkie sighed. "Okay, Cheesy... oh, and if you find my friends, please let me know. I haven't seen them all day!"

Cheese tipped his hat. "Will do."

Pinkie leapt into the air. "Great!" When she landed, she grabbed Tomato and told him, "You're going to love my cutie mark story: it's a gem!"

Tomato sighed. "Let me guess... it involves a party."

Pinkie gasped. "Shhh! Don't spoil anything!"

Scootaloo hopped back onto her scooter and Apple Bloom back into the wagon with Sweetie Belle. She zoomed off, with Pinkie tailing them while dragging Tomato with her. Cheese waved goodbye at them, holding a grin on his face. Once they were out of sight, however, his face fell and he scratched his head.

"What kind of surprise party are they planning for her? Is it a late birthday party or something?"

That's when Rainbow Dash hopped out of the clouds and landed beside Cheese. "Ha ha ha! Now Pinkie's anniversary party will be awesome!"

Cheese turned to her. "Anniversary party?"

"Psht, of when she moved to Ponyville! Everypony in town's pitching in to throw one for her!"

"Really?"

Rainbow nodded. "It's a good thing you're here, too, because the way Twilight is organizing things is giving me a headache. I don't even know what she's talking about half the time."

"Well, what are we standing around talking for? Lead the way, Rainbow Dash."

* * *

Once they were at Sweet Apple Acres, the Scootaloo had slowed down to a more leisurely pace on her scooter, slow enough that Tomato was comfortable walking beside the wagon carrying Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They all listened as Pinkie told her tale of how she threw her first party for her family.

Watching Pinkie leap from tree to tree, Tomato recalled how she had done that back during the Fall Festival. This time, she seemed to be doing acrobatic stunts in the trees, and he couldn't help but wonder if she was showing off. He wondered how she was still rambling on about a rock farm when any other pony would be out of breath by now.

"...and then, they smiled! Oh, seeing them smile was such a relief for little itty-bitty me, especially since I was worried that I had done all that work on the party for nothing! And then we all started dancing, and then my big sister Maud came in and pointed out my cutie mark!" She lowered herself from a branch, hanging by her tail, and giggled. "You should have seen her smile! It was the biggest one she had ever done!"

"I would have expected them to yell," Tomato said.

Pinkie dropped from the branch and bounced to her hooves. "They did yell! It was happy yelling!"

"Happy yelling, huh?" Tomato had done that a lot as a colt, so it was no mystery to him. If only that was the kind of yelling his mother had done when Cheese first returned home and presented the family with his cutie mark. But alas, she was never a happy mare.

"Hey! I do happy yellin' a lot!" Apple Bloom said.

"Well, a lot of us do happy yelling," Scootaloo added.

Sweetie Belle tapped her chin. "Isn't that called cheering?"

"You're right," Tomato told Sweetie Belle. "It needs to be it's own separate word to distinguish it from angry yelling, yelling to talk to a faraway pony, and-YIKES!" Tomato jumped as a gray, fanged, pig-like face with red eyes suddenly popped into his vision upside-down. It hissed in response to his shout.

"Hey! What are you doing out of the sanctuary?" Apple Bloom snapped, hopping out of the wagon.

Pinkie gasped and glared at the creature hanging from Tomato's forelock curl. "Bad vampire fruit bat, BAD!"

"Vampire fruit bat? What, is it going to bite me and turn me into a vampire?" Tomato sneered.

"Not on my watch!" Pinkie pulled out a fruit hat, put it on her head, and bounced away, cooing in a singsong voice, "Come and get it..."

The bat hissed at Tomato once again, and then flew in pursuit of Pinkie. The other four watched the scene of the bat following Pinkie and being joined by some of its friends. Tomato glanced at the Crusaders, who were looking at one another.

"I wonder how many bats got out of that sanctuary," Sweetie Belle said.

"So far, it looks like a lot," Scootaloo stated.

Apple Bloom looked at the trees in horror. "This is awful! If all those bats aren't rounded up soon, they'll suck every apple dry! And if they suck every apple dry, Applejack and Big Mac won't be able to harvest them! And if we don't harvest them, we can't sell them! And Ponyville is going to starve!"

Tomato looked up at an apple on the branch above him, and watched as a bat swooped in and suck the juice out of it, spitting it onto his head. He growled as he wiped it off. "There's certainly going to be a lot less revenue for your farm if this keeps up. One of us needs to go and get help for this situation."

Scootaloo jumped and hovered. "Or maybe this is our chance to get a fruit bat roundup cutie mark!"

Tomato blinked. "Now, wait just a-"

"No, we can't wait! The Cutie Mark Crusaders are not going to abandon the farm when it's being attacked by bats!" Apple Bloom declared. "Pinkie Pie ain't backin' down, so why should we?"

Tomato looked at Sweetie Belle, who was the only one who looked unsure about this plan. With a sigh, Tomato said, "Because none of you fillies have the proper equipment to gather them-honestly, this is best left to adults."

Another bat flew over, and spat out the apple it had in its fangs. The mushy fruit landed straight on Sweetie Belle's horn, and she squeaked out an "OW!" She turned to the bat and glared at it, removing the apple from her horn. Then she turned to her friends, and said, "Are you sure that we shouldn't just get Applejack?"

Apple Bloom stamped her hoof. "We can't waste any more time! We need to put the bats back in the sanctuary now!"

"Besides, Tomato can tell the others if he really wants to, since that's his idea," Scootaloo said. "But for now..." She hopped back on her scooter and flapped her wings. "We have bats to catch and cutie marks to earn! Come on, girls!"

With a nod, Apple Bloom hopped back into the wagon with Sweetie Belle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tomato said. "Girls, can't I just explain a little problem with-"

Before he could finish, however, the Crusaders zoomed away from him and deeper into the orchard. He stared for a moment, and then grumbled under his breath about their refusal to listen to him. He put a hoof on his face for a brief moment, and once he removed it, he took a deep breath.

"I don't even know where anypony is!" He stomped his hoof. "Grr... where is that darn party being planned?"

* * *

 **A/N: I didn't intend to get into vampire fruit bat territory. But seriously, what is stopping those bats from just flying over that fence and slurping up those apples in the main orchard...?**


	4. To Save An Orchard

Pinkie hopped through the orchard, humming a merry tune as she did so. With a fruit hat strapped to her head and the hissy squeaks and chirps from the bats behind her, everything was going smoothly. She could see that she was gathering more and more bats from the trees, and if all went according to plan, they'll all be back in the sanctuary!

She bounced past a large, red stallion tending a tree and waved at him. "Hiya, Big Mac!"

Big McIntosh looked up and nodded in acknowledgement. His jaw then dropped at the sight of a black cloud made of vampire fruit bats chasing Pinkie, the sweet aroma of her hat too much to ignore. He continued to gape at the sight, followed by the Cutie Mark Crusaders in pursuit of the cloud.

Big Mac put a hoof to his face. "Oh no..." He sighed and turned around. "Better get th' net..."

Pinkie just kept bouncing on forward, the sanctuary now in her sight. Victory was within her reach, and Sweet Apple Acres was going to be safe. No more apples would fall victim to hungry animals. No mean vampire fruit bats were going to devour her friend's-and possible family's-orchard while Pinkie Pie was around!

She was almost there. The fence called to her, telling her to bring the bats home. The aroma of her hat just needed to keep the bats' attention for just a little while longer...

All of a sudden, at one moment when she landed on her hooves, something crashed into her, sending her tumbling forward, her fruit hat flying off. She found herself at the bottom of a pile of fillies, a wagon, and a scooter, aching from the impact. Stars were in her vision, as were many a fruit bat.

She shook her head and looked forward, only to spot the bats snatching her fallen fruit hat and sucking the fruits dry. She gaped at them, hearing the sucking sound from their mouths as the fruits withered into ugly, wrinkly, mushy skins. Once they were done, each member of the little group burped before flying off.

The Crusaders climbed off Pinkie, and then she proceeded to jump forward, growling and shaking her hoof in the air. "Hey! I was using that to lure you bats! You weren't supposed to eat it yet!" She stamped her hoof. "Now I have to make another one..."

The Crusaders lowered their heads in shame. Apple Bloom looked up at her, saying, "We're sorry, Pinkie Pie..."

"Yeah, I didn't mean to crash into you," Scootaloo said.

Pinkie was looking up at the bats flying above her. "No time to apologize-we need to find some fruit and make a fruit hat!"

"Aren't apples fruit?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"We've lost enough apples!" Apple Bloom snapped.

Pinkie turned to them. "Apple Bloom is right! I'm going to town to find some fruit that the bats haven't touched."

The Crusaders' eyes widened, and they opened their mouths to protest. However, before they could utter a word, Pinkie sped off, leaving the trio standing there, gaping at the dust cloud that Pinkie left.

"She left," Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle bit her lip. "Uh oh... she's not supposed to know about the party!"

Apple Bloom gazed at the bats flying around. "But we can't just leave the orchard to fend for itself."

"I got it!" Scootaloo leapt into the air and hovered for a moment. "One of us can go and keep her away from the party!" She looked around, and then spotted Big Mac with a net, trying to catch some of the bats. "And the two of us that are left can help Big Mac catch the bats."

"Well, who's gonna go?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and then back at Sweetie Belle. "You are."

* * *

Tomato wished he had a homing signal on Cheese.

Wherever his older brother was, it was where the supposed party was, and where everypony else was sure to be. He had figured out that it was a party for Pinkie, due to the Crusaders dragging her out of town.

He sighed. He wished they had at least paused to give him the location. Then again, he didn't really know where he was going.

He passed by house after house, shaking his head at each one. Wherever the party was, in wasn't in one of those humble homes. If he were to guess, it'd either be outside or in a larger building like the town hall or the castle.

He sighed. If only he knew where to look first.

He heard the panting of a foal behind him, and he turned around to find Sweetie Belle sitting there, sweating and wiping her forehead. She looked up, with eyes that seemed to be asking for his assistance.

"Did you chicken out of catching the bats?" he asked.

"Huh? No, I didn't!" She took a deep breath and asked, "Have you seen Pinkie Pie around?"

"Afraid not. Did she escape or something?"

"She's looking for fruit to make a fruit hat."

Tomato pursed his lips. "Okay then... say, do you know where that party is? I figure that the other ponies are there, and we need their help with the bats."

Sweetie Belle stood up. "It's around the castle. I'll lead the way. But be careful, we don't want to ruin the surprise for Pinkie."

"At this point, I don't think whether or not it's a surprise matters, since, well, the bats."

Sweetie Belle groaned, and she cantered around him. She took the lead, and Tomato waited a few moments before following her. As much as they needed to hurry, he didn't want to press her to go a full gallop. Still, he wondered how the other two were faring against the bats, and how well Pinkie's first fruit hat worked.

And then it hit him. Two fillies, facing off against a colony of bats-

"Wait, you left your friends to fight the fruit bats on their own?"

Sweetie briefly glanced back at him. "No, they're with Big Mac. He's big and strong, he'll be a lot of help!"

Tomato snorted. "Maybe you should ride on my back and I can gallop there."

"But what if you get-"

"I can see it right there!" Tomato pointed to the spires of the castle. "I'll be just fine. Now, let's go-killing time means we're killing fruit." He trotted beside her, and used his tail to hoist her onto his back. "Okay, hold on tight!"

Sweetie Belle wrapped her front legs around his neck, and then the stallion bolted, startling her with his surprising speed.

Tomato galloped through the streets of Ponyville, his heart pounding and his ears filled with the rapid rhythm of his hooves hitting the pavement. Not very many ponies were out and about, though those that were jumped at the sight of a lanky, vermilion stallion nearly crashing into them.

Tomato didn't have time to apologize, nor could he even say it with the panting that overtook his lungs. His windpipe was burning, his legs were aching, but he still went full throttle. Not helping his breathing was the filly hanging on his neck for dear life.

Soon the castle was within reach, and Tomato gave himself one last push. He could see many ponies working on the party, just like Sweetie Belle said. Sure enough, Pinkie's friends, as well as Cheese, were there. They had put up streamers, banners, and balloons galore, and there were several activities being set up. The only one he processed was the tug-of-war, with the mud puddle in the middle.

The very reason that he processed it was that he tried and failed to stop before he fell in. So he went tumbling in face first, with Sweetie Belle still on his back, and both yelped before they went _splat_ in the mud.

The yelps got the attention of everypony there, including the party planner and the friends of the mare which the party was for. After a moment of of confusion looking amongst each other, the ponies ambled to the mud puddle to find a now muddy Sweetie Belle, sitting atop what looked like a dead stallion lying face down in the mud.

Rarity gasped. "Sweetie Belle!" She telekinetically lifted her sister out of the mud. "My goodness, you're a mess! What were you doing in the mud?"

Tomato lifted his head and raised a hoof. "My fault." He then splashed his face back into the mud with an ungraceful splat.

Cheese walked into the mud and helped him up. "Geez Louise, Tomato, I never thought you'd end up tripping into a mud puddle like that! I expected a more sophisticated fall."

Tomato scowled at him, and then swatted him so he fell face first into the mud. "Like that?"

Cheese looked up with a muddy and unamused face. "Okay, okay... that was a bad joke..."

All of a sudden, Pinkie popped up from the mud between them, holding a disappointed look as she looked between them. "Hey! I thought you were done with that feud! You two be nice to each other!"

Everypony simultaneously groaned.

Pinkie looked around in confusion and asked, "What?"

Twilight sighed. "Oh, Pinkie..."

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. "So much for a _surprise_ party."

Pinkie blinked and looked around at the food and decorations around her. She also saw the disappointment on everypony's faces, to which she pursed her lips and said, "I could forget about this party so I can be surprised later."

Tomato started wiping the mud off of himself. "Well, now that everything's been spoiled... I need to tell Applejack something."

Applejack blinked. "Uh, what you have to say?"

Tomato bit his lip. "Well... your orchard's under attack."

* * *

The cacophony of the bats' screeches and hisses were giving Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo earaches. The juice of many an apple was spilled on the ponies, and the bats were not shy about discarding mushy apples on the heads of their pursuers. Some even dared to divebomb them and give them a few scratches here and there.

Big Mac gave a buck that was only hard enough to shake the tree and scare the bats out of it. Then, with a net in his mouth, he attempted to catch some of them. He only succeeded in snagging one, however, and he had to drag it to the sanctuary, making sure it didn't escape his clutches. And in attempting to throw it back in, the bat flew the opposite direction. Big Mac growled and stomped on the ground, and then tried to catch the bats again.

He noticed Apple Bloom had caught some bats as well. Too bad that those in her net were flying in harmony, carrying the filly off the ground and leaving her legs dangling. Apple Bloom had her mouth clamped down tight, shouting something incoherent at the bats.

Big Mac sighed, and galloped toward Apple Bloom to help her.

Scootaloo was zipping around on her scooter, net in mouth and hoping to snag some bats as well. Unfortunately, they were all flying too high for her to reach, even when she jumped. Her attempts to hover even resulted in her falling, missing her scooter, and crashing down to earth, dropping her net.

Getting up and brushing herself off, she grabbed her scooter once again and sped through. She looked around for anything that could make a good ramp, enough to give her a boost to snatch some of the bats. She looked to one side; there were trees. She looked to the other; there were more trees. She looked forward; there were still more trees, and she had to swerve to keep herself from crashing into one.

Finally, she spotted a rock, which had the perfect slope to get her some air. With a smirk, she sped on forward, flapping her wings to give herself a boost. Feeling the wind blow through her fur and her heart racing, she was ready to soar.

She flew off the rock, and she found herself high enough that she could touch the bats. She swung her head to snag some bats... only to find that she had forgotten to pick up the net when she fell.

"Aw, horsefeathers!" she shouted.

And then she found herself plummeting back down to earth. As she braced herself for impact and the inevitable broken bone, she was suddenly intercepted in midair. She blinked, and looked up at her hero. She grinned.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow nodded proudly. "Of course it's me! You think I wouldn't notice a filly falling from the sky?"

She turned around and sped back the direction she came, startling some bats out of the flying pattern. The disrupted bats hissed at her, but didn't bother to chase her.

She landed in another part of the orchard, joining her friends-minus Applejack and Pinkie Pie-as they surveyed the scene before them. Behind them sat Tomato and Sweetie Belle, who appeared utterly horrified at the sheer number of bats that flew both above and between the trees.

Rainbow set Scootaloo down and turned to Twilight. "Is it just me, or did those things multiply?"

"Well, obviously, they reproduced since the last time we dealt with them," Twilight replied.

Hearing them speak from where he sat, Tomato added, "They also reproduced in the last ten minutes."

Rainbow glanced at him with a sneer and asked, "Why did we bring him? Cheese would have been more help than his dipstick brother."

"Cheese is keeping the preparations going," Twilight answered. "Besides, Tomato was telling us how this started, remember?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "He didn't even make it exciting."

Applejack came out of the trees, with Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh behind her. "...now, Apple Bloom, I appreciate that you want to help-but after you bein' almost carried off like that, I figure we'd have to wait a little longer before you can catch varmints like that."

"Applejack, I couldn't just let the farm go to ruins!" Apple Bloom protested.

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen." Applejack looked up at her friends. "Okay, looks like we rounded up all the Crusaders. Now we can round up them bats and put 'em back in the sanctuary." She turned to Fluttershy. "You been practicing yer bat speak?"

Fluttershy nodded. "Of course I have. I'm still not perfect, though..."

Applejack walked to her and patted her back. "We ain't lookin' for perfect-just enough to get the bats to listen."

Then Pinkie Pie hopped on the scene, carrying several fruit hats. "You wouldn't believe how much fruit I found! I made seven fruit hats!" She started hopping around, putting the hats on each one of her friends, as well as Big Mac. "We can attract seven times the bats!"

Twilight looked up at the fruit hat she was now wearing for a brief second. Then she looked forward at her friends and said, "All right, girls... and Big Mac... let's all go get those vampire fruit bats!"

"Darn tootin'!" Applejack exclaimed. She looked at her brother. "Ready for a fruit bat roundup?"

Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup."

As the group wearing the fruit hats started to leave, Tomato raised a hoof. "Is there any way I could help?"

Applejack stopped and turned around to face him. She rubbed the back of her head. "Er... why don't you just take the Crusaders to where the others are settin' up the party?"

Pinkie stopped her pronking and gasped. "Wait! There's a party?"

Both Applejack and Tomato raised eyebrows at that. Then Applejack told the Crusaders, "You gals can help Cheese Sandwich set things up. I'm sure he'd love the help."

Apple Bloom stomped a hoof. "But I wanna help save the farm!"

Applejack lowered herself to eye level with Apple Bloom. "Don't worry-my friends and I can take care of it."

Tomato nodded. "Besides... there'll be more opportunity to earn your cutie marks helping Cheese."

Sweetie Belle gasped. "You don't think we'd be party ponies like Pinkie or Cheese, do you?"

Tomato shrugged. "Maybe. But there's only one way to find out."

Scootaloo grinned. "Well, why not? I'm up for it."

Apple Bloom looked at the orchard and back at her friend, biting her lip. She looked at her older sister and asked, "So... the orchard'll be okay?"

Applejack nodded and hugged her. "We've saved it plenty of times. We can save it again."

Once she was released from the hug, Apple Bloom hesitantly walked away. "All right. I'll go help with the party..."

Applejack stood up straight, nodded, and then turned around. Apple Bloom watched her sister gallop into the trees before she turned around. The Crusaders and Tomato then began to walk all the way back to the castle grounds.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, more vampire fruit bat madness! Now with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Big McIntosh involved!** **Big Mac's name frustrates me...**

 **Nevertheless, I wasn't at much of a standstill with this chapter than the last one. Had a little trouble in some areas, but I wouldn't consider it a groaner.**


	5. How to Earn a Cutie Mark

So much for being useful in catching the fruit bats.

Tomato dared not show his disappointment over it to the Crusaders, lest they start asking questions about it. He didn't want to tell them that he felt useless, just because his mark only specified one talent that would not help the situation, and that no one bothered to ask him if there was anything he was good at that would. For all he knew he might end up discouraging them. All he was content to do was just let the Crusaders talk amongst themselves while they went across town to the party.

Despite Apple Bloom being noticeably sadder, she was still talking animatedly with her friends, discussing what kind of cutie marks they'd get in helping set up the party. If there was anything he could glean from these fillies, it was that they weren't patient about getting their cutie marks. He himself hadn't been in a rush to obtain his, and it had appeared soon after his tenth birthday.

Hopefully, they'd figure it out. But for now, they were setting up that "not-much-of-a-surprise" surprise party.

 _Just what am I supposed to do when we get there?_ Tomato wondered. _Goodness knows I'm no good with any parties._

He still had that one time stuck in his mind-the one time that Tomato had thrown a party. All it had been was a bunch of colts fooling around, running all around the house, and fighting over an accordion until it was thrown against the wall and broken. Hardly anypony expected little Tommy's stupid decision that day would lead to such a drastic change in the lives of their family.

It still hurt to think that if he had been a good little colt that day, just watching over the house, then he would be a different pony. But, then again, so would Cheese. The question was who they would be today.

He wasn't paying attention to much of the conversation, so he was surprised when it ended up with Sweetie Belle turning to him and asking, "So, how did you get your cutie mark?"

Tomato blinked. "Huh? You want to hear my story?"

Scootaloo scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously, he got it by doing his dad's taxes."

"He could have got it how Filthy Rich got his," Apple Bloom said. "Huh, now that I think of it, I don't know how Filthy Rich got his."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Well, I earned my cutie mark during my school's fundraiser."

"Well, what kind of fundraiser was it?"

"What was it for?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Is this story going to be boring?"

Tomato cleared his throat. "Well, it all started after an incident which involved the chalkboards..."

* * *

 _"I don't believe it," Tomato's mother grumbled, reading the school newsletter. "Why did those little demons use the chalkboards as sleds?"_

 _Ten-year-old Tomato laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling. "I dunno."_

 _Mom looked up from the table, tapping her hoof. "They were former friends of yours, surely you know what they were thinking."_

 _Tomato sighed. "School rebellion... sticking it to the mare... terrorizing five-year-olds..."_

 _Mom facehoofed and groaned, then left her seat to pace around the kitchen. "Foals today... such little animals that their parents refuse to tame and thus causing nothing but destruction. Hmph, they should see how I got Tomato to behave..." She opened the fridge and took out a cup of yogurt. She gingerly licked it. "Before, he'd run around like a maniac and break valuables... now he's perfectly quiet..."_

 _Tomato felt his already down spirits sink even lower. He knew reminding her that it wasn't her that got him to calm down was fruitless. Bringing it up would only remind him of how he had caused his brother to run away._

 _The mare returned to the table, still taking scoops of her yogurt with her tongue. "And now they have to replace the chalkboards. Be glad that you ditched those monsters-you would have become a criminal by the time you hit your teen years."_

 _Tomato blew on his forelock. "Technically they ditched me because I was crying over my brother."_

 _"Well, crying over your brother is neither going to bring him back nor boost your standing in school."_

 _They way she had said that made him fear that Cheese was dead. Having run away a couple years before, he had been impossible for the police to track down. Manehattan was a big city, and he could have been anywhere in it. Or he could have left it. Either way, Tomato kept imagining worst case scenarios where Cheese got hit by a cab, or fell off the bridge, or got eaten by a dragon or a hydra or even Cerberus. And no matter what happened, it was all Tomato's fault._

 _Mom tapped her chin. "But perhaps participating in that fundraiser will get the other students to notice you."_

 _"What if I don't want to be noticed?"_

 _"Oh, please, you were always wanting attention before."_

 _"I changed my mind."_

 _"That's no excuse. I wonder what excuse you have for your grades slipping."_

 _Tomato rolled over and buried his face in the couch cushions. "What's the point?"_

 _Mom finished the last of her yogurt, and then crushed the cup. "The point is, I want you to grow up to become a respectable stallion, one who is well-behaved, diligent, and in control of his emotions. Honestly, what pony in this city would hire a stallion who still cries over something that happened in colthood? You know that big colts don't cry."_

 _Tomato groaned. "I don't wanna do the fundraiser..."_

 _His mother sighed and turned around to look out the window. "Very well... I guess you just want to wallow in that puddle of self-pity of yours... which will only get deeper as you disappoint the whole school... all your little friends will be sad you didn't join in. Your teachers would be disappointed that you didn't help get those new chalkboards. Your poor mother would be disappointed that you didn't contribute anything to such a noble cause."_

 _She glanced back, seeing Tomato with a still buried face. "And your brother would be so shocked and disappointed to see you like this. Imagine if he came back through that door, seeing you on that couch and behaving so selfishly. After all, wasn't it your selfishness that drove him away?"_

 _He rolled off the couch, landing on the floor face up. He bit his lip, guilt stabbing him in his heart. What if Cheese did return and saw that Tomato was still a selfish colt? No doubt he'd turn around and go back to being a runaway, definitely never coming back. And there was no doubt that of the few left that still liked him at school, like his friend Bluejinx or his teacher Miss Periwinkle, they'd turn against him for not doing anything to help the school._

 _"I... I guess you're right, Momma... I should stop being selfish..."_

* * *

 _It was the time when school was supposed to be out, yet the classroom was still full of foals. Tomato sat in the back, casually wiping his glasses with his cloth, glancing around at any shapes ready to make a move toward him. He noticed a shape walking to the front of the class, and he placed the glasses on his muzzle and the cloth on his desk._

 _The class looked at the bare wall where the chalkboard once was. An easel stood there in its place, with several posters resting on it, the cover being that with a picture of smiling ponies surrounded by dollar signs. Beside it was a dark-haired, purplish-blue mare with a sweet smile._

 _"Wow! I'm amazed that so many of you are participating in the fundraiser!" she exclaimed. "Already, I can tell that this is going to be fantastic."_

 _A butter-yellow, dirty blonde filly tossed her hair. "Well, of course I'm participating, Miss Periwinkle. I'm an upstanding citizen, unlike the barbarians that destroyed all the chalkboards."_

 _"Now, now, Creme Brulee, we don't call other ponies names," Miss Periwinkle said. "Especially those that have been suspended."_

 _Creme Brulee crossed her forelegs and pouted. "Well, if they had behaved, I wouldn't have called them barbarians."_

 _"Calling them names won't encourage good behavior."_

 _Tomato sweated when he heard Creme Brulee speak. He could feel his heart beating and his face warming up as he looked at her. It felt so weird and awkward, and he didn't dare speak to anypony about it, lest they laugh at him for it. The only pony he had ever told about it was his brother Cheese, and he thought it was silly. So, he just suffered in silence, staring at her, and somehow wanting her to be his very special friend._

 _But, alas, she hated him, so all he could do was fruitlessly pine for her._

 _Miss Periwinkle clapped her hooves and let her eyes sweep the class. "Anyway, the school has put me in charge of the fundraiser this year. Our fundraiser project is going to be a white elephant sale."_

 _One colt piped up, "We're selling elephants?!"_

 _"Well... not exactly. You see, a white elephant sale is where ponies sell items that they no longer want or can use. We're going to donate old things that are not needed in our houses anymore and sell them to ponies who'll find them valuable. It's akin to the saying, 'One pony's trash is another pony's treasure'."_

 _"So I can sell that banana peel that my maid forgot to pick up five weeks ago?" Creme Brulee asked._

 _The entire class recoiled in disgust at that statement. A horrified filly even shouted, "Ew! Why didn't you pick it up yourself?"_

 _Creme Brulee tossed her hair. "Because it's not my job. Sheesh, that idiot didn't even find it yet."_

 _Miss Periwinkle gagged. "Well... whatever the case... no, you may not sell a banana peel. Selling literal garbage is not going to get us anywhere." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, our goal is to raise over 400 bits, which we will earn by selling the donated items. All of you will be letting ponies know about this event, helping run tables, pricing the items, counting the money... and I need a special helper to help me track the progress of the fundraiser and make it go as smoothly as possible."_

 _One filly cried out, "You mean... like a boss?"_

 _"More like an assistant, but this student will be my co-manager. So, who's willing to be my special helper?"_

 _A bunch of excited foals threw one hoof in the air, chattering and pleading to be picked. Tomato looked around, amazed at all the foals who jumped at the chance to be the boss. He wondered if they were doing it to help the school, or just because they just liked the idea of being in charge-sort of. A simple glance at Bluejinx sitting beside him, who was one of the few who didn't raise his hoof, made him consider just a lowly job of running one of the tables._

 _However, for some reason, he felt something compel him to raise his own hoof. Some sort of magic was making this position call out to him, and was driving him to make his hoof be seen, as he ended up climbing up on his own desk, standing up on his back hooves, and waving the raised front hoof like a maniac. For a moment, he felt like his old self, and unable to be embarrassed at his own action. He was confused at his own actions, though, as was Bluejinx._

 _His efforts paid off when Miss Periwinkle spotted him, smiled, and said, "Well... how about our own Tommy Sandwich back there?"_

 _All the foals simultaneously shouted, "WHAT?!" and turned to the red-orange colt standing on his desk in the back. Tomato cringed at the stares and the glares being shot his way, and he just wanted to melt into a puddle._

 _"Come on up to the front, Tommy," Miss Periwinkle said._

 _Tomato hopped off his desk and made his way to the front of the classroom. He could hear the whispers about him, and a bunch of them mentioned his brother in some way or form. He heard "crybaby", "why's he so lame now?", "my mom says his mind is sick", "he's going to ruin the fundraiser", and "the only way this could be worse was if his brother was here."_

 _He found himself at the front of the class, facing all those who had been former friends. He had learned the hard way that they had merely been fair weather friends that only liked him because of the attitude he portrayed on the surface. They had never cared for Tomato's love of his brother, nor did they care that he was a smart kid. As long as Tomato had been wacky and playful and random, they kept him around._

 _While he was thankful that Bluejinx still had his back after the accordion incident, he was still terrified of the other students, who believed he had betrayed them over his geeky brother. It was a good thing that Squirt, Carpet Burn, and Jumbo Thumbo weren't there-they were merciless._

 _Still, why did he raise his hoof?_

 _Miss Periwinkle smiled at him. "Thank you for raising your hoof. I'm really happy that you're getting involved with this, and I'm sure you'll be a big help."_

 _"Well, thanks," Tomato murmured._

 _Creme Brulee gaped at the two. "If I may, Miss Periwinkle... but just why did you chose that airhead?"_

 _A bright red colt shouted. "Yeah! Everypony knows all he ever thinks about is that brother of his who's probably dead!"_

 _Tomato glared at the colt, feeling an urge to punch him on the nose. But he held still, not wanting to disappoint the teacher._

 _Miss Periwinkle shook her head. "Brick, if there's anything you don't do, it's mock somepony's lost loved one. If you're going to bring up Tomato's brother just to tease him about it, then I'll have to talk to your parents about it. He has every right to be sad about it, so I don't want to see or hear anypony bullying him about it. Understand?"_

 _Brick rolled his eyes. Creme Brulee glared and said, "But, really... him, over me? Um, hello, rich filly over here!"_

 _"Rich filly who refuses to pick up her own banana peel," Bluejinx snickered._

 _Miss Periwinkle clapped her hooves. "All right, everypony, let's design fliers."_

* * *

"That Creme Brulee filly sounds an awful lot like Diamond Tiara," Apple Bloom stated.

Tomato assumed that this Diamond Tiara was Ponyville's local rich, snobby filly. Why he once had a crush on one of those, he had no idea. "Well, she was adamantly against me being the teacher's assistant and above everypony else. She thought that I had no idea what I was doing. Though, to be fair... I thought the same thing and wondered why I even volunteered."

He looked up at the castle spire a ways away, and figured that they were halfway there. They kept on walking. "At first, the only donations we had were white elephant figurines. It was kind of funny, but it wasn't enough. So, I had Bluejinx make more fliers, and we ran around as many neighborhoods as we could, handing out our many, many fliers."

"Did you go around all of Manehattan?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Eh... no. Frankly, I'm sure the majority of Manehattanites wouldn't have cared about one school's white elephant sale. Still, after handing out fliers and singing to potential donors-"

"You sang?" Scootaloo asked. "I thought you hated singing, if your last visit told us anything."

"Hey, I was more liberal about singing in my younger years. Besides, our pitch was great, since we not only got a lot of donated items, we also managed to sell the majority of the stuff to many of the residents from all the neighborhoods we visited. That week was surprisingly better than expected! Heck, some of the fillies decided to bring homemade cookies to hand out to the patrons, we managed to convince Creme Brulee's father to have a bouncehouse installed to distract the younger foals, and I was in charge of collecting the money earned each day from each table.

"Believe me when I say that they had not said a word against me... in fact, they were scared of me. Bluejinx told me that I was not only getting hopped up over my excitement at actually doing something worthwhile, but I was also being rather abrasive when chewing out some of my classmates for not doing their work, or for trying to sneak some of the profits away, or my personal favorite, sticking a wet slice of toast on the brick wall."

The Crusaders stared at him blankly.

"...eeyeah, I don't know how they did that either. And as for how much we managed to raise..."

* * *

 _Sitting in the classroom, a weary Miss Periwinkle wrote in the book that was open in front of her. "All right, just need to add up all these bits that we managed to raise. How many did we manage to earn at each table today, Tomato?"_

 _Tomato set aside the last box of bits he was counting. "Well, Mr. E's table earned 38 bits, Mr. Jasper's table earned 40, Mrs. Paper's table earned 32, Miss Glimmerheart's earned 21, Mr. Yodel's earned 29, Miss Chalkdust's earned 14, Mr. Starmaker's earned 26 and our table earned 35. In total, that'd be..." He clicked his tongue as he processed the answer. "...235 bits."_

 _Miss Periwinkle put a hoof to her mouth, and started chuckling. "Oh, my goodness! You're fast. So how did you convince so many ponies to come? You're really doing more than what is needed."_

 _"My house is kinda boring, so I been doing more stuffy-stuffs and stuff around here. Also, ponies like singing."_

 _Miss Periwinkle laughed some more. "Lots of ponies like music." She started to jot down the number Tomato told her._

 _Tomato drummed the desk with his hooves. "I'm gonna tell you right now that we got more than twice our goal... so can we brainstorm what the extra money should go to? Maybe a new school bell 'cause the one we have is kinda rusty? Adding to the playground? Or we could give it away to charity."_

 _Miss Periwinkle looked at him and set down her pencil. "You're right about that, Tomato. I mean, we ended up with 875 bits! I'll discuss what we'll do with the extra money with the other teachers, but goodness! I didn't think we'd get that far..."_

 _Tomato hopped out of his seat and approached her. Miss Periwinkle patted his head, and said, "I bet your parents would be so proud of you and your contribution. And I think the other students have a little more respect for you now."_

 _Tomato raised an eyebrow, ready to dispute that. He wasn't sure if hiding from him was considered respect, but at least they hadn't said a word about Cheese during that week._

 _He sighed sadly. If only Cheese could see that I did something good. He turned around and started to head toward the door._

 _Miss Periwinkle looked up. "By the way... love the cutie mark."_

 _Tomato stopped in his tracks. "Wait, what?"_

 _He turned around and looked at his flank. Emblazoned there was what looked like a fusion of a tomato and a money bag. Blinking, he gingerly touched it with his front hoof. He turned to find the exact same mark on his other side, and he moved his leg, spun around, and sat down._

 _"I... I don't believe it..." He looked up at his teacher. With a great leap, he exclaimed, "I got my cutie mark!" He started to bounce around the room as Miss Periwinkle watched._

 _He hopped from desk to desk, the same energy from a few years before returning to him. "This is great! This fundraising stuff got me my cutie mark! Does that mean I'll be rich when I'm all grown up? Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, I got to show this to Mom and Dad!" He landed on a desk in the front and stood up on his back hooves. "Today, Tomato Sandwich is a colt no more! He is a proud, strong stallion!"_

 _He tumbled off the desk in an ungraceful manner._

* * *

"And there you have it. The story of how I earned my cutie mark." Tomato rolled his eyes. "I wasn't even really trying-it just came when I was ready, apparently."

"I guess you don't have to do taxes to earn that cutie mark, huh?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Pfft, I wasn't willing to touch 'grown-up homework'."

Scootaloo stuck her tongue out. "I sure wouldn't want to. Still, it was a better story than I expected."

"Cheese's is better-he's the better storyteller."

"Speakin' of Cheese, what did he think of your cutie mark when he first saw it?" Apple Bloom asked.

Tomato felt a chill run through his body, and a pit formed in his stomach. The words exchanged that day came to mind, and he could already feel the hot tears well up once again. His tail reflexively covered his cutie mark, and he ended up walking faster, almost in an effort to get away from them. That memory was not one he wanted to relay, and it was something that he wanted to forget. If anything, it would almost certainly rekindle his anger towards Cheese.

"Tomato?" Sweetie Belle asked.

His composure fell as he spun around and barked, "NO!"

The three fillies froze at Tomato's tone. Seeing the look in their eyes made his heart feel heavy, and he stroked his mane. He knew that his tone of voice was uncalled for, and Apple Bloom didn't know better. From their point of view, he must have looked like a huge jerk. He looked away from them and sighed.

"I don't want to talk about it." He looked forward, with the castle grounds in view. "The castle's right there... go ahead and make yourselves useful."

The Crusaders looked at each other, and silently passed him. He watched them run forward, hoping to find their special talents in helping Cheese and the townsponies set up the party. Tomato sighed once again.

"Maybe I'll just find the library and read a book there."

* * *

 **A/N: None of the sources on fundraising I checked really specified if students could be assistants to teachers like Tomato was here, but, eh, Equestrians are more trusting of their kids than a lot of real life adults are, so I personally think this issue is minor.**

 **We only sold chocolate bars and cookie dough in my day... although recently my sister was selling mattresses.**

 **But, yeah, fundraiser was the best thing I could come up with for Tomato's cutie mark story. That question came up on Tommy's blog a while ago.**


	6. Useless?

"All right, just a _little_ more to the left," Cheese said, waving his foreleg in that direction.

The two pegasi that were putting up the banner nodded, and attempted to obey Cheese's command. The one on the left side moved just fine; however, the one on the right side went too far, and crashed into her fellow pegasus. Cheese winced as they crashed into some panicking earth ponies carrying some food. Popcorn, nachos, and donuts were dropped, and a punch bowl was thrown into the air.

Five seconds later, a now wet and sticky Cheese Sandwich had that very bowl as a new hat. Blinking, he removed the bowl from his head and gave it to the sheepish pony who had carried it before. After the pony left, Cheese licked his lips, and remarked, "Mmm, cherry."

"We're ready to help, Cheese Sandwich!"

Cheese spun around, and there stood the Cutie Mark Crusaders, standing there and grinning. He smiled back at them.

"Well, looks like they got you girls out of the fray! Hopefully that bat problem will be solved in time for the party."

Apple Bloom huffed. "It could go quicker if they'd just let us help."

Cheese took out a towel and started wiping the punch off of himself. "I'm sure they know what they're doing, kiddo-now, let's see what kind of assistance you can provide here..." He looked around the place, trying to locate anypony in need of help setting up something for the party. His gaze went from the castle, to the mud pit, to the karaoke, to the two pegasi picking up the banner, to the ponies picking up the food that was dropped, and finally, to Spike putting some balls in the recently built ball pit.

Cheese pointed to the dragon. "Why don't you go ahead and help Spike? He has a few things that I'm sure he'd like some help with."

The Crusaders looked to where Spike was. Scootaloo tilted her head. "Just what is he doing?"

"Several things actually. Filling the ball pit, lighting the tiki torches, making some of the food-" He looked back at the ponies picking up the dropped food, grumbling as they did so. "-sewing some shirts, stuff like that."

"Sewing some shirts?" Scootaloo asked.

"He picked up a few things from Rarity," Sweetie Belle said.

"Twilight wasn't lying in calling him her Number 1 assistant-quite adept at doing a lot of tasks," Cheese said, stroking his chin. He discarded the now-dirty towel, and started drying himself off with another towel he pulled out of nowhere. "Still, it doesn't mean he's a superpon-er, I, mean, dragon. Like I said, he'd appreciate the help." He winked at them.

The Crusaders looked at Spike, trying to open another bag of balls, and then back at Cheese. Applebloom tapped her chin. "Well... okay! Come on, Crusaders, let's be Spike's helpers!"

"What kind of cutie mark would a Spike helper have?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"We'd more likely get a cutie mark in one of the things we're helping him with," Scootaloo said.

"Well, let's go!" Apple Bloom galloped toward the dragon. "Hey, Spike! Want some help?!"

Spike looked up and hollered back, "Sure! I'd love it!"

Scootaloo followed, along with Sweetie Belle. However, the latter stopped in her tracks, and turned back around. "By the way, Cheese, I just remembered... what did you think of your brother's cutie mark when you first saw it?"

Cheese blinked and dropped his towel. "Huh, you really want to know?" He tapped his chin, trying to recall the day he first saw his brother's cutie mark, while at the same time wondering what brought that on. Did Tomato tell them his cutie mark story, or was Sweetie Belle trying to predict Rarity's eventual reaction to her cutie mark?

Clicking his tongue, he finally reached that very moment. "Well, I can tell you I was surprised. Ehehe, I mean, that energetic scamp I called a brother having a talent with money? Who knew? Especially after Mom didn't trust him for awhile after he swallowed a bit..." Cheese shook his head, smiling fondly at the memory of little Tomato. "I guess sometimes life takes you for a loop and gives you a special talent that nopony expected. I've met a few ponies that earned an unexpected cutie mark."

"Is that so?" Sweetie Belle tapped her chin, and then shrugged. Upon hearing her name being called, she turned back around. "Oh well. I've got to join the other Crusaders now!" With that, she galloped off.

Cheese waved to her, and then scratched his head. "That was kind of out of the blue." He then focused his attention to the ponies still cleaning up.

Those very ponies were surprised when he waltzed over to them and presented them with a vacuum cleaner, questioning just where he got it. With a chuckle, Cheese only replied, "Try this; it's a whole lot easier!"

* * *

Tomato was now meandering through the streets of Ponyville, having given up looking for the library after very little luck in finding it. Perhaps Ponyville was just one of those towns that just didn't have one. It struck him as a little odd, since libraries held a lot of useful information, but maybe they had other ways of learning in this town. As far as he could guess, there might be one in Princess Twilight's castle, given her reputation for loving books.

But that was the one place he didn't want to go. The castle grounds were where the party was being set up, and he really didn't want to be bothered by anypony. Especially not by Cheese, however well-intentioned he may be.

He passed by a window, the interior of the building dark enough so that he could see his reflection. Tomato stopped and turned to the image of the tall, well-dressed stallion staring back at him. He slowly ambled forward, and reached forward with his hoof. He touched the glass, which gave the image of touching his reflection's hoof. He moved the hoof up and down, and jokingly said, "Pleasure to do business with you, sir."

He grinned, and held it for only a few seconds before it fell and his reflection looked glum once again. His hoof still touched the glass, and he gazed into his reflection's eyes, which underneath the nice clothes, the slicked-down mane, and the overall serious, professional look, revealed a soul that was just so... _broken_.

He couldn't put his hoof on why, though. He and his brother mended their relationship, surely that meant he was better than he was before, right? He was happy now, right? For what reason would his reflection make him look so sad?

He glanced at his cutie mark, but immediately looked away, reasoning that there was no way that it was a mistake. He looked forward at his reflection once again.

To his surprise, instead of the sharp-dressed stallion from before, there stood a grinning, curly-haired version of him, lacking the glasses and wearing a very tacky, green button shirt with red polka dots. Tomato stumbled back after seeing the sudden change, and immediately looked at his sleeve, which was still a long, brown suit jacket sleeve instead of a short, green sleeve. Blinking, he looked back at his reflection, which hadn't changed from the silly version of himself.

He touched the glass once again, and he was face to face with his other self, who smiled and waved at him. Tomato blinked, tilted his head, and tentatively waved back with his free hoof.

"Hiya, Tommy!"

The sound of Pinkie's voice snapped him out of his trance. He shook his head and found himself staring at the well-dressed stallion once again. He took a step back and kept on staring, wondering what had just happened.

Pinkie Pie was right beside him, looking at Tomato's reflection in the window as well. "Oooh, making friends with your reflection, I see!"

Rainbow Dash landed right next to her. She took one look at the window and scoffed. "Gee, full of himself, isn't he?"

Tomato scowled at her, but he didn't feel like responding with a snide remark of his own. He still stared at his reflection, expecting it to transform and wave at him again.

Applejack trotted onto the scene, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow's statement. "You're one to talk, Rainbow."

Rainbow whirled around to face her orange friend. "Hey! At least I can back up my awesomeness."

Soon, the other three arrived, and Tomato noticed that they were all covered in patches of dirt and bearing several scratches from their time at the orchard. He could hear their heavy breathing, and the majority of the group had their heads slumped forward.

"I assume all went well?" he asked.

"We got 'em back in their sanctuary," Applejack said. "Big McIntosh is making sure they stay in."

Rarity sighed, pulling junk out of her mane and wiping mud off. "But not without sacrificing the full volume and radiance that my new shampoo had provided for my hair. And let's not forget the nasty scratches that mar all of our coats! Ooh, they sting so..."

Fluttershy bit her lip. "The bats may have been just a teensy bit contrary."

Twilight groaned. "I had to cast a sleeping spell on them."

"Hey, it went better than last time," Rainbow said, looking at Fluttershy.

Tomato glanced at Fluttershy, who backed up and hid behind the rest of the group. "Um... what happened last time?"

"You don't want to know," the girls responded in unison.

Tomato blinked. "Okay then... so, you girls going to help with the party?"

Pinkie perked up. "Wait, there's a party?" Her brow furrowed and she looked between her friends. "How come nopony told me?"

The others gaped at her, and nervously looked between each other. Tomato was merely confused, and scratched his head at the thought of Pinkie Pie actually managing to forget about the surprise party that she had seen with her very eyes. However, seeing the clear apprehension on the other mares' faces convinced him to keep his mouth shut.

The tense moment ended when Rainbow Dash suddenly tapped Pinkie on the head, shouting, "Tag! You're it!" and zooming away.

Pinkie gasped and glared at the direction where Rainbow fled. "Nopony tags Pinkie Pie and gets away with it! Oooh, I'm going to make sure you're 'it', Dashie!"

With that, she sped off in pursuit of the rainbow-maned pegasus. The rest of the girls breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, why are we keeping it a secret again? She already saw the party," Tomato said.

"She still wants us to treat it like a surprise, and she has elected to try to forget about it," Rarity said, still pulling some sticks out of her mane.

"And speaking of the party, what are you doing out in the streets?" Twilight asked. "Shouldn't you be helping set it up with Cheese and the rest of the town?"

Tomato brushed his hoof on the pavement. "Oh... well, me and parties don't mix well, to be honest. I'm a walking disaster in that department."

"Are ya sure that ain't an excuse to be lazy?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I threw a party once, it ended in disaster, and I received..." He clicked his tongue, hoping to say it in a way that wouldn't elicit questions from them. "...uh... a pretty harsh punishment for it. And we all know what happened at the Fall Festival. Really, I shouldn't touch them-just stand back and let Cheese do his thing."

The four mares looked at each other, unsure of whether or not to buy it. Tomato forced a grin, but he couldn't bring himself to look any of them in the eyes. He wanted to hit himself for how he was behaving-he wasn't lying!

He cleared his throat and asked, "So, uh, do any of you know if there's a library around here?"

The girls froze, and almost immediately Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy glanced at Twilight. Tomato nearly jumped at how her eyes glimmered with hurt, even when the rest of her face was stoic. Applejack patted Twilight's back, her expression softening toward her. Rarity and Fluttershy held the same look, glancing at Tomato a couple times but mainly focusing on Twilight.

Tomato felt a twinge of guilt. _Was it something I said?_

Twilight shook her head, took a deep breath, and calmly answered, "There's one in the castle. I'll show you. Follow me."

Twilight began to walk forward, with Applejack and Fluttershy following. Tomato stepped aside to let them pass, while Rarity started to go, but then took one look at her body.

"Oooh... I need a bath."

Twilight sighed, lit up her horn, and all girls in the vicinity had their mud and grime disappear. "There, better?"

Rarity took one look at herself again. "I suppose it'll do. Thank you, Twilight."

Tomato raised an eyebrow, tempted to call foul. But, seeing as he already said enough, he kept his mouth shut. He only silently followed the girls to the castle, feeling like a useless idiot.

* * *

Standing atop a large and fantastic playground that he and several others had just finished constructing, Cheese spotted four of Pinkie's friends coming on the scene, as well as Tomato. With a grin, he threw himself onto the slide, and slid down, with front legs raised and a joyful holler ringing out of his mouth. He felt the wind on his face and the pounding of his heart, and he felt just like a little kid.

He exited the slide with a flip, and landed just in front of the group. "Hey, girls! And Tommy. So, how'd the fruit bat thing go?"

"Hello, Cheese," Twilight said. "Well, we got them back in the sanctuary. It only took a lot of fighting, screaming, and a sleeping spell to do it."

Cheese nodded. "Ah, yes, one of those less agreeable types of creature. I've run into a bunch of those over the years. As of now, the only things I didn't encounter would have to be Bighoof, vampires, and werewolves."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "That's because Bighoof and vampires are myths and werewolves became extinct long ago. Princess Celestia evaporated all those ponds long before any of our grandparents were born."

"Pardon, Twilight, but what do you mean by ponds?" Applejack asked.

Twilight turned to her. "I've read that long ago there were magical ponds that bestowed a wolf curse on those who drank from them under a full moon. The curse could turn even the nicest of ponies into the most bloodthirsty of monsters."

Fluttershy squeaked. "Goodness... I wouldn't want anypony to turn into a monster."

"Neither did Celestia. She confirmed to me that she did evaporate those ponds and create a spell to heal the infected ponies, because she didn't want any of her subjects to be cursed and driven to kill other ponies."

"That sounds absolutely dreadful!" Rarity gasped. "I'm glad that we don't have that problem in the present."

Cheese took a step back. "That... was more than I needed to know."

Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I just thought I needed to elaborate on why you never encountered any of those."

"Um... about Bighoof... it could be that he's just shy," Fluttershy stated.

"Maybe he just hates ponies," Tomato suggested.

"Okay, can we just stop talking about this? We do have a party to set up." Cheese made a grand gesture toward the large playground he had just came off of. "Now, what do you guys think about that fine piece of work? I just tested the slide, those ponies are testing the swings, some are testing the jungle gym-I think the foals will like this."

Applejack looked up and down the structure, making note of the ponies using the swings and climbing on it. "Looks awful sturdy so far... but I'll go look up close just to make sure..."

With that, she started trotting toward it.

"Anyway, you girls better get back to what you were doing before the... bat thing." After Rarity and Fluttershy nodded and left to do whatever it was that they were doing, Cheese jumped to Tomato's side and slung a front leg over him. "Now... what should I have you do...? Let's see, maybe you could help decorate! Or you could go and cook or bake some things-after all, if there's any Sandwich that can cook, it's you! Or... or... um..." He hoisted Tomato up and hollered, "Hey! Anypony around here need some extra hooves?"

The ponies paused in their duties, took one look at Tomato, and with obvious contempt on their faces, answered, "Nah."

Cheese huffed and put Tomato down. "Geez, what's their problem?"

"They associate me with disaster," Tomato answered.

Cheese snorted. "Hey, the Fall Festival was a problem because we were fighting. Last I checked, it was the both of us." _Not to mention my mood usually affects the party, and since I was in a bad mood..._

"Even so, I can tell they don't like me."

"It was only one party that they saw you at," Twilight said.

"Yeah... one party with multiple events that went haywire, with me present at all of them." Tomato snorted. "Run for your lives, the killjoy screw-up has returned."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Cheese said. "Okay, stop thinking of yourself that way. You're not a killjoy, and you're not a screw-up. I mean, it doesn't matter that you've made a pretty bad first impression while I've been here enough that the town kinda knows me, and that my first impression was pretty good-but then again, I've screwed up trying to impress Pinkie, I sorta made her feel... inferior..." Cheese rubbed the back of his head, blushing over those events. "But, hey, if I can make it up to Pinkie, surely you can make it up to Ponyville, right? You know, show them just how truly of an amazing pony you are?"

Tomato's face had gone from neutral to a fairly intense glower. Forcing a smile, Tomato answered, "Wow, thanks Cheese, that makes me feel so much better! They'll be in awe of how unspecific my amazingness is!" He frowned once again, and marched past him. "I'm going to find a book to read."

As his brother stormed off, Cheese blinked and scratched his head. "Um... what just happened?"

"I'm pretty sure what you meant to say came out wrong," Twilight said. She started following Tomato. "I'm going to help him locate the library."

Cheese stood there, blinking as they walked away. He reviewed what he had just said, and ran a hoof through his mane. He looked up once again, and they had already went inside. He sighed.

"Geez Louise, Tommy," he muttered. "You're a little touchy, aren't you? You weren't ever this touchy as a colt... nor were you this reclusive."

He heard somepony cry out, and spun around to find that the swings snapped off of the playground. A couple of dazed ponies still sat on the seats, with Applejack and another pony helping them up. Wincing at the scene, he took a deep breath and set off to go fix them.

* * *

Twilight opened the door, and proudly presented the collection of books present in that very room. Tomato walked in, and whistled in sheer amazement at how many books there were. They were neatly lined up on the gleaming shelves, all sorted by their genre, their subjects, and their authors. Tomato took a deep whiff of the combined smells of musty old books and freshly printed ones.

He glanced at Twilight. "You must really like this room in the castle."

Twilight nodded happily. "Of course! Whenever I have time to myself, I just go in here and insert myself into any of the worlds that each one of these books hold. What's even nicer is when I get to share one of those worlds with a friend."

"Truth be told, I could hardly consider myself your friend-this is my second time in Ponyville after all. Still, I am grateful that I have a chance to read a book from a library in a princess' castle-oh wow..." Tomato's eyes went wide and he blinked. "I just realized how lucky of a stallion I am. You're my favorite princess now, Twilight."

Twilight blushed. "Oh, you don't have to refer to me as princess. I'm okay with us being just casual acquaintances."

"Ah, gotcha." Tomato walked toward a chair, pulling a random book out with his tail as he did so. He sat in the chair and opened the book, still holding it with his tail. "Perfect place to be out of the way."

Twilight frowned. "Why don't you want to help set up the party? Not only is it the anniversary of when Pinkie moved here, it's also kind of a late birthday party and a Thank You for all her efforts to make ponies smile. And as crazy as the Fall Festival went, she did have a hand in helping you and Cheese begin to rebuild your bond. Not to mention... Cheese really would like it if you helped."

Tomato sighed. "As nice as that sounds... I'll only be in the way. Attending a party, yeah, I could do that. Helping set one up? I'm useless."

"Are you sure you're not just trying to convince yourself of that?"

"No, I'm absolutely certain that me and parties just don't mix like that."

Twilight opened her mouth, and then shook her head. "Very well, have it your way. Just remember that you can't get away with this stunt in every party this summer. Sooner or later, your brother will get tired of you doing this. Make sure you find something you can do, okay?"

Tomato buried his face in his book. "Ugh... okay."

Twilight nodded. "All right, I'm going to help with the set up some more. I hope you have fun reading about..." She leaned close and peered at the cover. "...'Chip the Magic Pebble'."

And with that, Tomato was left alone again.


	7. Fun Times

_The matriarch of the Sandwich household wished that her son could express his excitement in a more subtle way._

 _It had been two years since Tomato had expressed his joy by running and bouncing around the house, leaping on furniture, and coming dangerously close to shattering her vases and knick-knacks. His whoops and hollers gave her a headache, and his boundless energy made her heart race, especially when he nearly jumped on her. All the while that he did this, she wondered what the point of his zipping around was, since it served no purpose in any place._

 _Tomato took time to bounce on each cushion on the couch, weaving the tale of how his days at the fundraiser went. He jumped over the lamp, his tail knocking it over. His mother nearly had a heart attack upon seeing it fall, but Tomato caught it with his tail and set it back up, before continuing on his energetic rampage. She was so dazed, she could have sworn she saw him scale the wall, run on the ceiling, and slide back down the opposing wall. At least, she thought she was just imagining him doing that._

 _The colt's words were coming out too fast, and they were garbled in her ears. Rubbing her temples, she thought about how she had preferred it when the foal had been depressed. At least he had been quiet then._

 _Tomato leapt over the coffee table and bounced around some more. "...and then when I was heading home, Miss Periwinkle pointed out my cutie mark!" He turned and proudly showed off the picture on his flank. Waggling his eyebrows, he said, "Pretty nifty, eh?"_

 _His mother blinked at the design of the cutie mark. For years, she had expected that when Tomato's time had come, it would have indefinitely been a ridiculous mark matching the colt's energy. Not even him doing well in school had made her think otherwise. She had still expected a squished tomato symbolizing bad comedy, or a bottle of ketchup blasting off like a rocket. But, what she saw in front of her was a tomato shaped like a money bag, complete with a dollar sign._

 _She pursed her lips. "What a surprise."_

 _Tomato nodded and started bouncing again. "Yep! You were right, Mom, doing the fundraiser was the best thing I did! I got a good idea of who I'll grow up to be!"_

 _His attention was diverted to the opening front door, where a tired, tall, cinnamon-coated stallion carrying a suitcase in his mouth ambled in. Tomato grinned and sped to him. "Dad! Dad! I got my cutie mark!"_

 _His father merely glanced at Tomato's flank, patted his head, and said, "Good job, kiddo."_

 _With that, he simply walked into the kitchen, presumably so he could do that 'grown-up homework' he always did. Tomato sighed, and shook his head. Didn't he ever get tired of those dumb papers? Would it kill him to be more excited that his son earned his cutie mark?_

 _After a brief pout, Tomato turned to his mother once again. Resuming his bouncing, he asked, "So, Mom, Mom, Mom, how should we celebrate? Ice cream? Pizza? Trip to the park? Museum? Ferry? Mare Liberty? Come on, Mom, don't leave me hanging and pick something!"_

 _"Tomato Matthew Sandwich," his mother replied. "We don't need any fancy nights out to mark this milestone in your life."_

 _Tomato frowned, and plopped onto his haunches. "Why not? Bluejinx went out for ice cream when he earned his cutie mark."_

 _"If Bluejinx jumped off a cliff, would you do it?"_

 _"Mom, Bluejinx is not stupid. Ice cream is harmless!"_

 _"Too much can make you sick and rot your teeth." His mother stood up and stretched. "Celebrating something every foal goes through is a waste of time when you could be doing more productive things with your newly earned cutie mark. Besides, you had enough fun at the fundraiser itself, no? Isn't that celebration enough? You have no regrets, right?"_

 _Tomato's ears drooped and he drew on the floor with his hoof. "I have one regret."_

 _She raised an eyebrow. "And that is...?"_

 _"...that Cheese isn't here to see it."_

 _His mother sighed. "Tomato, the longer you keep moping about your brother, the less seriously anypony will take you. In fact, it's hard to take you seriously when you're bouncing around like a kangaroo in this house." She pointed at his cutie mark. "That mark is for serious ponies only, and since you can't trade it away, well, we'll just have to work on fixing that careless attitude of yours. No one appreciates a careless pony. Is that understood?"_

 _The excitement of receiving his cutie mark evaporated, and once again, Tomato felt crummy. Not only had he been selfish, but he was careless too! No wonder his brother and most of his friends abandoned him-he was a bad pony._

 _"Yes, Mama."_

 _She nodded. "Good." She glanced at the clock. "It's time for bed, young colt. I want you to be a well-rested pony."_

 _Tomato nodded, stood up, and walked to his room. After slowly making his way through the hallway, he slipped into his room and shut the door behind him. With a sigh, he looked up at the two beds before him._

 _They had neglected to remove Cheese's bed from the room, mostly in the assumption that he'd eventually come running back from wherever he ran off to. It had been two years since he left, and the bed still remained._

 _With a sigh, he climbed into his brother's bed, with the blue-and-yellow quilt and the striped pillow. He looked at his own bed for a brief moment, before turning away, and curling up in a ball. He pulled the quilt over himself, and lay still, hoping to feel Cheese's presence once again._

 _"Hey, big bro," he mumbled. "I earned my cutie mark. Do you like it?"_

* * *

 _Elsewhere in Equestria, in the mountains outside of Salt Lick City, that other colt felt the muscles in his flank tightening and relaxing in succession, and a tingling sensation buzzed through his body. Accordion notes rang in his ears, and the name of his destination popped into his mind. He jumped at the feeling, dropping the rubber chicken he carried on his back._

 _Once the sensation had passed, he picked up his chicken._

 _"Cheesy Sense is telling me to go to Manehattan, Boneless," the colt said, his voice cracking. He gulped. "I guess I'm ready to return..."_

 _He looked at his cutie mark, a grilled cheese sandwich torn to look like an accordion. He took a deep breath. "Well, we'll see how much of a loser Cheese Sandwich is now."_

 _He turned his nose to the east, and stood up. Though just a colt of thirteen, Cheese already felt like a worn, rugged traveler. He looked like one too, a brown poncho draped on his body and a cowboy hat atop his head. The only thing that kept him looking completely like one was his large glasses._

 _He started working his way through the woods, wondering what changes had taken place since he had left. If there were any big changes to the city, he'd have read about them in the newspaper. He doubted the neighbors were any nicer, or that his parents would put in a better effort of raising him and his brother._

 _And then there was Tommy. The little rascal that seemed to never run out of energy. The little twerp who was way too friendly and way too reckless for his own good. The little ketchup squirt who had broken Cheese's accordion._

 _Cheese sighed. He never really gave Tomato a chance to apologize. After all, it was an accident, and Cheese did have a couple of years to cool off. Even when trying to hate him, he couldn't help but miss the one pony that had thought he was worth something. And maybe, just maybe, Tomato missed him._

 _He reached the peak of the mountain, and looked over the valley. He then turned to Boneless. "Yeah, I think I'll check up on my baby bro. What is he, ten now?" He chuckled. "Yeah, it's about time we catch up... and I need to introduce you two."_

* * *

Cheese trotted down the hallways of the castle, looking for the room that his brother was hiding out in. The entire set up was all finished, and somepony was out fetching Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. He was going to have Tomato at least participate in the big holler of "surprise."

He had the directions to the castle library that Twilight had told him in his head, though he forgot which door it was. He had been in the castle before, having been given a tour by Pinkie before, but he never really cared for the library to memorize where it was. He kind of regretted it now, but how was he supposed to know that he'd make up with his brother? And how was he supposed to know that Tomato would become a bookworm? Just how _did_ Tomato turn into one?

He knocked himself on the head with his hoof. "Geez, Louise, Cheese, stop it. There's no need to compare his old self and his current self. He just... grew up, is all."

He passed by a mirror, and only took a mere glance at it. However, that one glance was enough for him to notice something was off. He backed up, and gazed at his reflection. He was taken aback by what he saw.

The stallion in the mirror had his hair, coat, and eye colors, as well as his build and face, but he didn't see it as himself. The stallion was dressed in a black suit jacket, with a yellow tie. His hair was slicked back, with curls at the end. And he had those large glasses on his muzzle, with a sharp glare behind them accompanying the large frown his mouth made.

Cheese backed up, and immediately looked at his shirt and felt his muzzle. No glasses, and he still had the yellow polo on. He looked back up at the image, and rubbed his eyes.

He blinked, and his normal reflection was in the mirror, with a look of confused horror on its face. He scratched his head. "That was weird."

He looked around for anypony who happened to be in the castle and saw that, and shook his head. He continued to meander through the hallway, looking for a door.

* * *

Tomato had long since finished "Chip the Magic Pebble", and moved on to a longer book. He had grabbed one on Equestria's wilds, it's creatures, and it's myths and lore, and balanced the open book on his tail for his usual reading position. He was aware that his holding of the book was unusual, but it was quite comfortable for him.

He had already gone through reading about the wild and rugged Clydesdale known as Bighoof, a fierce dream demon that infected innocent ponies with toxic magic until Princess Luna defeated and imprisoned her, about hydras, Changelings, Cerberus and Tartarus, and sirens. There were mentions of Discord trapped in stone-obviously the book was outdated now-and of that magic-stealing centaur, Tirek.

Tomato shuddered at the memory of that beast storming Manehattan and quickly and effortlessly draining the magic of the entire city. Everypony had been left so weak and tired when it happened, and Tomato could only remember just sitting in defeat and staring into space until all the magic was returned to all Equestria.

He turned the page, and read about a dark magic spell used to fuse animal instincts into a pony. Tomato rolled his eyes, figuring that no unicorn would be stupid enough to use it. What was its use? Shaking his head, he found himself thankful that he was an earth pony.

He continued to read. "...it has been said that this spell was once used to fuse the user with a wolf, and thus the first werewolf was born. Pleased with the development, the unicorn cast a spell on several ponds to give others this blessing. Unfortunately, most ponies who drank from this pond became bloodthirsty and feral, and it was soon contagious by bite. An epidemic filled the land, and Celestia herself had to put a stop to it before too many ponies were either infected or killed. She created a spell to cure ponies, and evaporated all the ponds that held the spell. Almost as quickly as the werewolf epidemic had began, it had ceased."

"Hey, baby bro! Whatcha reading?"

Tomato looked up at the grinning Cheese Sandwich leaning against the doorframe. "Something about dark magic that creates unnatural animal-pony hybrids. It's horrifying, but that makes it interesting."

Cheese nodded and straightened up. "Makes me wonder what it's like, being part animal. You think I could be part chicken?"

"Psht, as if. Everypony know dark magic corrupts, so there I doubt you'll run into a unicorn who's powerful enough and willing to try it. Plus... part chicken? Really? I'm sure that if we did run into somepony willing to try it, he or she would more likely choose, say, a wolf, or one of those vampire bats in the apple orchard."

Cheese shook his head. "Anyway, baby bro, party's finished, and you're going to help us with shouting 'Surprise'."

Tomato stood up, still holding the book and reading it. "Hm, okay. Pray I don't blow my voice out."

Cheese raised an eyebrow at the casual strolling Tomato did, with his head turned to the book that his tail still held. "Do you really have to keep reading?"

"This book has some interesting information-I don't want to put it down! Besides, I kind of want to know what we might encounter this summer."

Cheese whickered in annoyance. "Tomato, I've lived on the road since I was eleven-I know how to survive in the wild. We don't need some guidebook on things that I've either met before or most likely don't exist. Besides, we have a surprise party to unveil, so just quit stalling and put the book down."

"Funny, I pegged you as the type to believe in Bighoof. What if I want to read it when I'm bored?"

"Ugh, it's _Twilight's_ book, not yours. If you wanted to read during this trip, you should've packed a couple of books. Besides, who needs to read when you're having a party?"

"You'll tick off a lot of bookworms with that sentence. And I meant for the in-between down time for when you're busy planning things with Boneless Two. I'm quite uncreative, so I need something to do when you're talking to an inanimate object!"

Cheese gasped and glared at him. He grabbed his tie, and yanked him out of the room, making the younger brother drop the book. Cheese proceeded to drag Tomato through the hallways of the castle, grumbling under his breath.

Tomato groaned. _I suppose I should have packed a couple of books before going out of my niche._

* * *

Once Cheese had dragged Tomato outside, everypony took their places, with Cheese hiding out in the top layer of the cake so that he'd pop out. Tomato just sat beside it, keeping himself out of sight. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Spike were sitting in front of it, with everypony else sitting various places by it, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the guest of honor.

Tomato was close enough to the cake that he could smell it, and he could feel his mouth water. The blue frosting looked sweet, light, and fluffy, laced with a beautiful golden yellow on its edges and covered in balloon-shaped cookies, enticing his stomach to growl. He tried his best to look away from it, but it still drew his eye. It also drew the attention of his hoof, which attempted to sneak a bit of frosting while no one was looking.

He grabbed it, and hugged it close to his body. "Nuh-uh, Tomato. Sneaking frosting off someone else's cake is rude."

However, he found himself leaning over, opening his mouth wide, and breathing in the aroma of the frosting. He could already feel the taste of it on his tongue, and his stomached roared as he leaned.

"What are you doing?"

He realized what he was doing, straightened up, and slammed his hoof into his mouth. He looked at the trio of fillies sitting near him, and sheepishly scooted away from the cake. He noticed several other ponies staring, and he continued to scoot until he was behind a tree.

Taking his hoof out of his mouth, he attempted to spit out the unpleasant taste. With a sigh, he stood up and peeked from behind the tree, looking at everypony smiling as they stared straight forward, hoping to spot any of the ponies that had been out. Once either the pegasus that was doing the fetching or Rainbow Dash arrived, Pinkie Pie was not far behind.

Tomato knew Pinkie was a good pony. A little irritating and intrusive, but still a good pony. Her good intentions could have made his and Cheese's feud worse back at the Fall Festival, but things did miraculously work out. If she really did a lot of good things for Ponyville, he wouldn't blame the townsponies for celebrating. Heck, Cheese did tell him that she inspired him to become a party pony.

Part of him felt like he should be out there on the front lines, since it would show he acknowledged her intervention in the feud. But another part still hated how disastrous the entire thing was, and wanted to hate her for meddling. Another part felt like that the only reason he even liked her was because Cheese did, and he hated that shallow reasoning.

Rainbow Dash and another pegasus had arrived, taking their places near the cake. And soon enough, Pinkie trotted onto the castle grounds, and everypony jumped up, threw confetti, and hollered "SURPRISE!"

Pinkie gasped. "A surprise party? For me?! Is it my birthday again already?"

Pinkie's friends jumped forward and wrapped her in a group hug, all giggling. Rainbow laughed and answered, "Pinkie, your birthday was a couple of weeks ago."

"Well, then, that was a fast year!"

"Oh, no, darling," Rarity said as the group broke the hug. "We just felt awful for missing your birthday due to that adventure we had that week."

"And we thought, 'Why not the anniversary of the day you came to Ponyville?'" Applejack added.

"And then we figured that everypony could help out as a thank you for being their friends and going out of your way to make them happy," Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded. "And we are all very lucky to know you."

Pinkie blinked, looking around at the smiling ponies all around her. When she spotted Tomato behind the tree, Tomato feigned a smile so he didn't ruin the moment. She continued looking around until she was on the brink of tears, and she wrapped her friends in a big group hug.

"You're all the best! All of you!" She released them and bounced back. "You guys are the best!" She pointed at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "And so are you fillies!" She pointed at the Cakes. "And so are you!" She pointed at another pony, and another, and another, all the while saying, "And you! And you! And you! And you! And you!"

Tomato just leaned on the tree, looking up at the cake and wondering when Cheese was going to pop out. He shook his head and looked at Pinkie excitedly point at ponies and refer to them as 'the best.' He recalled when he was a colt that happy and excitable, and he could easily see his younger self in Pinkie's place.

She pointed at him, and hollered, "And you, too, Tommy!"

Tomato took a step back at that statement, and felt warm inside from being pointed out like that. However, before he could smile at her in response, he heard somepony grumble, "Him? Hmph, he didn't even help set up this party, that lazy stick in the mud."

His urge to smile was gone, and he remembered a key difference between his younger self and Pinkie Pie.

He had been selfish.

Pinkie looked around, trying to locate a pony that she hadn't called 'the best.' Her smile fell into a frown. "Wait a minute. Where's Cheese?"

And that was when the top layer of the cake exploded, and a bright orange pony leapt from within the cake, doing a back flip. Once he landed back on the cake, fireworks exploded behind him,blue, yellow, and pink balloons rose, and he flashed a grin Pinkie's way, waggling his eyebrows at her. "You rang?!"

As the crowd cheered, Pinkie stared up at him, her jaw slack and her blue eyes shining. Blush was gracing her cheeks, and her blinks were slow. Her friends took one look at her, glanced between her and the smiling stallion atop the cake, and most of them let out giggles and "awws", while Rainbow just blinked and rolled her eyes.

Cheese stood up on his hind legs and laughed. "So I hear you're calling everypony 'the best!' Don't leave your party pony pal out!"

Pinkie shook her head and giggled. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Well, Cheesy, you're the best party pony friend I've got!"

Cheese laughed some more, pulled out an umbrella, and leapt off, using the umbrella as a parachute. "Glad to hear it! And now... once I land, we can get this thing started!"

Pinkie giggled. "Okey-dokey-loki!"

* * *

The party was a blast.

Everywhere that one could look, there were ponies having fun. Some were bouncing around in a bouncehouse; some were jumping into the ball pit. Some were playing tug-of-war; some were singing at the karaoke. There were ponies chowing down on the cake, ice cream, nachos, and other refreshments that were being served.

Cheese was having a blast, playing his accordion and singing and dancing for the crowd. He happily took note of how they were bouncing to the beat and singing along, and added a few tricks to his act. He managed to cartwheel with his accordion still in his hooves, and did a back flip. When he landed on his back hooves, he leaned back far enough to look at the foal behind him upside-down, and made a silly face for the filly. When the filly giggled, he sprung back up and summoned several small balls to juggle with his tail.

Tomato, on the other hand, just hung back and munched on some pizza, watching the partygoers have their fun. He especially had his eyes on the colts and fillies running from activity to activity, shouting and laughing as they did so.

He didn't want to admit that he was a little envious of their carefree nature. The way that they just enjoyed the simple things in life, the freedom to be themselves, and sing and dance and play, and being loved by the adults in their lives. He especially was a little pleased to see some of the foals being encouraged by their parents to try an activity in the area.

He hadn't been as happy as those foals since he was eight. And even then, he never recalled either of his parents being like the ones he was seeing. These ponies were acting more along the lines of Bluejinx's mother.

He glanced at his brother, who was still being goofy to entertain the crowd. He sighed.

"How do you do it?" he mumbled.

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up beside him. "Well, he's been doing it for years! He's got the party pony gig down! Of course, between you and me, his act needs a little polish."

Tomato blinked. "Huh? Uh, no, Pinkie, I'm just wondering how he can keep high spirits, despite the crud that he went through when he was a colt? Despite being alone all the time with only a rubber chicken for company? Despite me, his own brother, pretty much ruining his life until he threw me out of it?"

Pinkie gave him a funny look. "Tommy, don't say mean things about yourself."

Tomato scoffed. "Well, sorry, I'll apologize to myself."

Pinkie patted his head. "Yeah, you should do that. Because both Sandwich brothers are super duper! Cheese is the Super Duper Party Pony, and you are the Super Duper..." She looked at his cutie mark. "...uh, Business Pony? How did you earn your cutie mark?"

"Fundraiser."

"Were you happy to get it?"

"Well, yeah, I was excited to get it."

Pinkie clapped her hooves. "Goody! Because after all, if you're not happy with your cutie mark, then why'd you earn it?"

Tomato's ears drooped, and he looked at his cutie mark. Staring at it, he replied, "I, uh, guess I'm just glum because I'm just out of my niche and feel I just don't have a place here."

Pinkie patted his head again. "There, there, Tommy. It's only the first party on your trip, and I'm sure you'll find some way to help in the next party. And it's okay if you want to stop being super serious and enjoy the party." She pointed to the karaoke tent. "May I suggest the karaoke tent?"

Tomato was about to retort that he doesn't sing, but he was interrupted by, "Hey, Pinkie! You want to do the pie-eating contest?"

Pinkie gasped and bounced. "Boy, do I!"

She was about to run off, but paused to whisper, "And one more thing: the saddest ponies have the brightest smiles."

With that, she sped off to partake in some pies, while a confused Tomato just stood there. He sighed and shook his head. Taking the last bite of his pizza, he walked toward the karaoke tent, figuring that there was no harm in watching other ponies sing.

* * *

He didn't know how long he was there, but he found himself entranced by each song that was sung-with the exception of some of those who were just terrible singers. He recognized some of his favorite songs, and under his breath, he sang along.

 _"What's the matter with the carriage I'm pulling?_

 _'Can't you tell that's it's out of style?'_

 _Should I get a fresh white coat of paint?_

 _'Are you gonna run a miracle mile?'"_

All of a sudden, Cheese sat right next to him, and plopped a bowl of ice cream in front of him. Blinking, Tomato gave him a funny look, to which Cheese shrugged in reply.

"I'm full," he simply said. "You want it? That is... if you like the flavor."

Tomato stared at him for a moment, picked up the bowl, and replied, still singing along with the music:

 _"It's still rocky road to me."_

And then he took a bite as Cheese snorted and laughed. Cheese put a hoof to his face and shook his head, muttering, "Okay, okay, that was good timing..."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "It was a lame joke. The ice cream will melt in embarrassment for me."

Cheese let a few more chuckles out, and then straightened up and exhaled. "Well, baby bro, the party's wrapping up, and we'll have to leave soon."

Tomato swallowed his bite of ice cream. "Is that so? We're not spending the night here?"

Cheese clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy... I don't like taking advantage of a town's hospitality. I'm afraid that I'll get too comfortable, and spend more and more days there, when the rest of Equestria needs a party pony to come in and help with their big shindigs!" He leaned a little too close to Tomato's face. "Not every town is lucky to have their own party pony like Ponyville is."

"So you don't want to settle down."

"The road is my home, baby bro."

"Huh. So... how often do you visit?" Tomato asked, taking another bite of ice cream.

"Huh?"

"How often do you visit Ponyville?"

Cheese scratched his front leg. "Well... I visit every so often to catch up with Pinkie, that's all."

"You visit for Pinkie?"

"Of course, she's my friend. And her friends are my friends too."

Tomato stirred his ice cream. "And you don't have any other friends in any other towns?"

"I have a pal in Appleloosa. I know a magician. I know a few other party ponies in Equestria. My little brother is my friend, and I consider his friends my friends."

Tomato ate some more ice cream. "Aw, I feel so special. But not as special as your girlfriend, eh?"

Cheese's face flushed red. "Tomato! I thought you stopped calling her that!"

"Oh, you just love this place so much then," Tomato took another bite, and swallowed before continuing, "I bet that if you ever do decide to settle down, it'd be here, in this happy little small town, home to the one mare who inspires you, who you adore, and you will not allow anypony to speak ill of her name!"

Cheese pouted at him. "Oh, ha ha, you must think you're so funny. Look, just like you and Flora, Pinkie and I are completely pla-"

Suddenly, said mare jumped on him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much for coming and helping, Cheesy! I'm glad you came and celebrated my late birthday, anniversary of coming to Ponyville, and Thank You party! My friends told me just how much help you were!"

Then, without thinking, she planted a big smooch on Cheese's cheek, which made the stallion freeze up. Once Pinkie released him, he crumpled on the ground in a heap, delighted sighs coming from his mouth.

Pinkie blinked. "Cheese?"

Tomato looked over him. "I think you broke him." He sighed, set down his ice cream and stood up. "I'm not dragging him out of town. So, you have a spare couch or something?"


	8. Stuck in a Tree

After spending the night in Ponyville, Cheese and Tomato trotted out, awaiting the Cheesy Sense to tell them what their next venture would be. In the meantime, they were heading up into the mountains and into the White Tail Woods, camping out once again.

Now, while Cheese was completely relaxed, happy to sleep under the stars and tell tales of some wacky adventures he had, Tomato was a little unsure about being in the woods. Of course, when he let that slip, Cheese tried to assuage his fears with, "Don't worry, we're not in the Everfree Forest. _That's_ the forest that has all the monsters. But here? We're just fine."

Tomato had read lines like that in some horror books. Usually the ponies ended up dead.

Still, Cheese was the one who survived in the wild for more than a decade. Surely he knew what he was talking about. If he didn't, well, Tomato would have become an only child far too quickly for his liking. Then again, he had practically been an only child since Cheese ran away.

Tomato shook his head and looked up at the stars above him. He felt rocks and sticks on his back, even with Cheese having cleared the space as much as he could before laying down the tarp for both to sleep on. While he was glad that Cheese had the uncanny ability to pull things out of nowhere so that they didn't get dirt on their backs, he just wished that he cleared the junk away better.

Tomato breathed in the cool night air, still looking up at the stars. It was amazing just how many there were up there. For some reason, looking up at them made him feel at peace, like the stars were angels' peepholes to the world below.

As his eyes grew heavy, he removed his glasses and laid them beside him. Curling up under his serape, he still felt as if there was still something wandering these woods.

* * *

Tomato woke up to facial hair.

Feeling his muzzle, he wondered why it took him until now to notice that he was growing not just a mustache, but a little goatee as well. How long had it been visible? Did the Ponyvillians see it and just not comment on it? Then again, most of them disliked him, so none ever came close enough to notice.

He sat up and stretched with a yawn. He shook his head, put on his glasses, and looked at his surroundings. The sun shone through the trees, creating a subtle glow on the white trunks and the flowers around them. Birds were perched on the branches, singing with all their heart and soul, providing a lovely melody for the forest. Squirrels were chattering in a way that was not disruptive, and actually enhancing the song. A gentle breeze rattled the leaves and the nearby brook babbled, adding to the harmony. Tomato remained silent, entranced by the music that nature was creating on such a beautiful morning.

Tomato rolled up the sleeves of his white button shirt, due to it being a little warm. The breeze brushed his cheek, and the natural song was inviting him to sing along. But he still remained silent, fearing his contribution would just disrupt the melody.

He still felt his face, wrinkling his nose at his new beard, and turned to shake Cheese awake. However, he recoiled when he saw his brother turn to him with a sudden jerk, wide-eyed and with a big grin. With a surge of fear and equally wide eyes, Tomato scooted back.

Cheese jumped up on his hind hooves and stretched, giving out a loud yawn in the process. Smacking his lips and going back on all fours, he turned to Tomato and said, "Mornin'!"

Blinking, Tomato replied, "Good morning."

Cheese shook himself, and took a look at Tomato's face. "Hey! Nice mustache! And the goatee complements it well."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I don't like it."

Cheese chuckled. "Tommy, you don't have to keep up appearances; we're in the wild right now, nopony will judge you for growing a beard."

Tomato still stroked his muzzle, irritated with himself for not being able to stop. "I personally find it annoying. And I don't want to go through the trouble of maintaining the thing. Do you have a spare razor?"

Cheese sighed, and pulled one out of wherever. Giving it to Tomato, Cheese warned, "Careful, you don't want to shave off part of your coat."

As he accepted the razor, Tomato added, "A mirror would be nice. I need to look where I'm shaving."

Cheese groaned, and pulled a mirror out of the same place. He cartwheeled to a tree near the brook, and leaned the mirror against the trunk. He cartwheeled back to his spot, grabbed Tomato, and dragged him to the tree. Taking a deep breath, Cheese said, "All right, don't drop the razor, don't cut yourself, don't tear off your red fur and leave an ugly pink furless patch on your face, don't tease any animals, and most importantly, don't break the mirror. That's bad luck."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Gee, you're superstitious. You need to calm down. Say, you have any shaving cream?"

Cheese snorted. "No. The only cream I have is..." He reached into his mane, and pulled out a can. "Whipped cream!" Giving it to his brother, he added, "I've shaved with this stuff for years, give it a try!"

Tomato stared blankly at the can. "You've got to be kidding me..."

Cheese shook his head and rubbed his chin. "Nope!"

"...Cheese, this'll make my fur clump together. And don't you ever worry that it'll attract animals?"

"Psht, it hasn't happened yet. Don't worry, the kind I have is nice and fluffy, good on the skin, and when you're done, you can lick it off!"

Tomato opened his mouth to argue, but decided that it wasn't worth it. He set the can and razor down on a nearby rock, reached into the brook, and splashed his face with water. Then, looking in the mirror, he picked up the can, sprayed the whipped cream on his hoof, and spread it all over his face.

Cheese grinned. "Glad you see it my way. I'll start up the campfire for breakfast. We're going to roast some of the leftover carrot dogs!" He set Boneless 2 down by the razor and can and patted the rubber chicken's head. "You two watch each other, okay?" With that, he spun around and trotted away to gather some firewood.

Tomato sighed and looked at the chicken. "Whipped cream... can you believe it, Boneless 2?"

He paused to stare at the inanimate object, and then slowly turned away to face the mirror. "His crazy is rubbing off on me already... I'll be a maniac before the summer ends..."

He grabbed the razor with his tail, and carefully began the first stroke. As he did so, he sang:

 _"I'm shavin'_

 _Shaving off unwanted hair_

 _While I am in the woods somewhere_

 _Getting ready for the day..."_

* * *

Cheese used his tail to launch a stick onto his back, letting land on the pile that was already on his back. He whistled merrily as he trotted through the woods, giving his contribution to the song that nature was already singing. He gazed upward as happy birds flew above him, chirping along with his whistling. His trot was even giving a nice beat to the melody, and his head bobbed as he listened to the wind in the trees, the babbling brook, and all the animals doing their thing.

Truly it was going to be a magical day.

Cheese would have sang, but there were no words that could be sung for nature's song, so he just kept on whistling. He had the firewood carefully balanced on his back, so he was not worried. He scanned the ground, spotted another stick, and as he passed it, he picked it up with his tail.

No Cheesy Sense yet, but it would come. If it didn't come within the next week, then he'd be worried. It usually meant his magic was drained or he was seriously emotionally compromised, like if he was having a bout of depression or something like that. But, he knew neither was the case, and he expected to be on his way to the next town soon.

Now, the question was if Tomato was going to be a party pooper again and not help. Even though the citizens of Ponyville were not too keen on his brother after the Fall Festival incident, Cheese was still a little bothered by Tomato declining to help. So what if the only party he threw ended badly? It was only just one, and Tomato had been eight at the time. Surely Tommy could be a much better help as an adult.

Plus, if he could assist in managing a fundraiser, then he couldn't be that bad at helping set up a party.

As he picked up the next stick, he noticed that it had gone silent, and he could feel a chill run down his back. He froze, and crouched down, adjusting his ears to listen for anything strange. He bit his lip and glanced around, his nerves suddenly growing uneasy. On his left, there was nothing. On his right, there was nothing. Behind him, there was nothing. And still, this sense of dread held him.

His ears twitched, and everything was still. The atmosphere of where he stood was strangely eerie, even though it was broad daylight. He couldn't help but feel that he was not alone, though he heard nothing. It was like the calm before the storm, and he kept expecting the coldest rain, the harshest wind, and the hottest lightning to strike him. The silence made time stretch even longer, and he felt as he had stood there for hours.

Finally, he could hear a distant crunching. It was faint, but it was enough to break the silence. He raised his head and pursed his lips, wondering what it could be. He could hear faint snorts and heavy breathing as well, which prompted him to run through a list of large creatures in his mind. Was it a bear? Was it a monster that wandered out of the Everfree? Was it a moose?

He shook his head and snorted. "Probably just a fellow traveler. Big pony... like Big McIntosh, or Bulk Biceps, or a Royal Guard. Nothing to worry about."

He looked at the sticks on his back. Still hearing the crunching, he muttered, "...yeah, that's enough firewood."

* * *

 _"...I've never lost any beard I've ever missed,_

 _But I've never used any cream like this!"_

Tomato grabbed the can of whipped cream and thrust it into the air, his eyes squeezed shut and a wild grin on his face. And then he bellowed out,

 _"I'm... SHAVING!"_

His song was interrupted by loud crunching behind him. He jumped and dropped the can, which rolled into the brook. Tomato blinked, looked around, and then looked straight at Boneless 2.

"Did you hear that?" There was a pause before Tomato smacked himself and grumbled, "Of course not, he's not alive..."

He then shrugged and crawled to the bank to grab the can. Much to his dismay, it had floated out of his reach, which elicited a groan from him. He dropped his face in the dirt, at which point he remembered the whipped cream on his face. With a sigh, he muttered, "And now I can't lick it off."

He leaned into the brook and splashed his face to wash the cream and dirt off. After that was done, he rose up, and turned to the mirror to examine his work. As he looked in the mirror and felt his face, he felt something breathing down his neck. The breathing made a chill run through his body, and his heart began to pound.

He looked to another spot in the mirror, where he found the can of whipped cream right behind him, between a large set of dirty, yellow teeth. Gulping, he slowly turned around, and found himself face to face with a large, brown, Clydesdale horse.

The horse had a wild, matted dark brown mane, and was dirty from head to enormous hoof. His nostrils were flared, his red eyes were caught in a fierce glare-in which Tomato could see his terrified reflection in the pupils-and he was stomping one of those unnaturally large hooves of his. Tomato could feel each breath on his face, which fogged his glasses, and he broke out in a cold sweat, his heart racing. His heart beat even faster when the large horse crushed the can with his teeth, chewed it, and swallowed it without any difficulty.

With a sheepish grin, Tomato murmured, "Uh... hi, Bighoof?"

Bighoof roared and jutted out one of his front hooves in a punch. Tomato gasped and rolled out of the way of the punch, which ended up shattering the mirror.

Tomato stopped his roll and panted, looking back at the fragments. When Bighoof roared again, Tomato grabbed Boneless 2 with his tail and bolted, with the larger equine in pursuit.

* * *

One moment, Cheese was just trotting back to camp, with plenty of firewood and a growling stomach. The very next moment, he paused as his little brother sped past him, shouting, "Cheese, run for your life, it's Bighoof!"

Cheese blinked, turned, and gave the still-running Tomato a funny look. "Huh? Bighoof?"

He jumped as he heard heavy breathing from a large creature, and turned back around to find a large horse galloping toward him, a roaring neigh coming out of his drooling mouth. Cheese's blood ran cold, and he didn't give himself enough time to process the horse before he turned around and sped off in the same direction Tomato did, dropping the firewood and screaming at the top of his lungs.

His mind raced and his hooves did their rapid beat under him. Bighoof? Bighoof exists?! Just how did Tomato end up meeting _Bighoof_ of all ponies?! He was going to have to ask Tomato how this mess happened... if they got out of this alive.

He winded through the trees, both to dodge and to attempt to confuse the much larger equine. He darted to the left, ran around a tree, and then darted to the right and did the same. He continued this in a zigzag pattern, which made Bighoof attempt to do the same, though his turns were noticeably much less sharp. Bighoof would crash into a tree, shake his head, and resume the chase... only to run into another tree. Cheese was too terrified to laugh at the continued running into trees that Bighoof did.

However, during his winding, Cheese had to leap over a bush at one point, and it slowed him down enough that Bighoof caught up and attempted to bite at his tail. That prompted Cheese to gallop faster, even though his legs were beginning to hurt and his lungs felt like they were going to explode.

His eyes darted around the woods as he ran, wondering where Tomato could have gone. If Tommy still could run as fast as he did in colthood, then he should be okay. Unless he ran off a cliff, or in the way of an oncoming train, or into another wild animal, or-

Bighoof snapped at Cheese's tail again, and Cheese forced his aching legs to run even faster, dodge trees, and jump over rocks and bushes. He cursed himself for letting his mind wander, and focused on coming up with a way to get rid of Bighoof. He looked all around for something-anything to get this feral horse off his tail. He glanced back at his pursuer, still roaring out those wild neighs.

However, found himself crashing into Tomato, and the two ended up rolling into a ball, bouncing a few feet forward. They would have stopped had it not been for the landscape dipping into a swell, and the Sandwich ball rolled down the hill, quickly getting the two covered in grass stains, dirt, and small pebbles. Cheese could see his world spin, and he could feel his stomach lurch as he kept rolling. His head hurt, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to stave off the nausea.

Finally, the rolling stopped when they crashed into a tree with a thick, red trunk. Cheese's head hurt even worse now, and he now had a rubber chicken in his face. His stomach churned, and he felt like throwing up.

Both Sandwich brothers sat up in a daze, but Cheese quickly shook himself out of it when he saw that Bighoof had not faltered in his pursuit and was barreling down the hill. Panicking, Cheese tucked Boneless 2 in his shirt, grabbed Tomato's tail with his mouth, and shimmied up the tree.

By the time he reached a branch too high for Bighoof to reach, the brown Clydesdale slammed into the trunk, which would have made them fall had Cheese not had a tight grip on both the branch and his brother's tail. He made sure Tomato was settled on the branch, though it was difficult when Bighoof started bucking the tree to shake them out. The entire thing was quaking, and Cheese and Tomato hugged the branch tightly, nearly lurching off of it.

As Bighoof kept bucking, Cheese yelled, "Tomato, what happened?!"

A buck and a rattling tree later, Tomato answered, "I didn't do anything! I was just shaving and he snuck up on me!"

The tree rattled again, and Bighoof roared. Cheese huffed. "Why's he so mad?!"

"I don't know!" Tomato clung on for dear life as the tree shook once again. He panted and asked, "Any ideas to get rid of him?"

Cheese held on, watching Bighoof bucking the trunk. "Well... uh..." The tree shook again, which was not helping Cheese's queasy stomach. "Ugh... I could throw up on him..."

Tomato let out a groan, which was rattled by Bighoof. "I guess I was right. He does hate ponies."

They had expected another buck, but to their surprise, Bighoof just snorted and paced by the tree, wickering at them and stomping his hoof. After a moment of sitting, Bighoof merely nickered and trotted off, and started to graze on the hill.

Cheese and Tomato sat up on the branch, and looked at the horse in astonishment. Cheese whistled. "Well, what do you know. We met Bighoof."

Tomato pouted at him. "Thanks for stating the obvious."

"Well, we know he exists for sure. You know a lot of ponies have been trying to snap a photo of him since cameras were invented? And nopony would believe that there was a crazy, wild horse living in some forest somewhere? It was almost as ridiculous as the Headless Horse!" Cheese's eyes widened. "What if the Headless Horse exists..."

"Due to it being headless, I doubt it," Tomato replied. He looked down at the grazing Bighoof. "Sheesh, you'd think this guy would live in the Everfree."

Cheese shrugged. "Eh, guess he can't compete with some of the creepy stuff in there. I've been in there more than once, I know. I once debated living there."

"...why? The folks in Ponyville don't like that place."

"Their fears made me decide against it." Then Cheese's face brightened and a smile came to his face. "Aha! I got it! You know how music soothes the savage beast?" He put a hoof behind his back. "Well, with my trusty accordion..." His face fell as he ended up patting his own back. "...where's my trusty accordion?"

Tomato pointed downward. "Uh..."

Cheese looked to where Tomato was pointing, and gasped at the sight of Bighoof now holding his accordion. Even worse was the trail of party implements that Cheese had accidentally dropped during the chase. His jaw was slack as he looked at the mess, as well as watched Bighoof play the accordion loudly and off-key.

Cheese bit at his hoof. "Oh, no no no no no, why? Why? Out of all the times to drop it, it had to be while being chased by Bighoof? Ugh, come on, my accordion's a delicate instrument!"

Tomato tapped his hooves. "If it helps... I saved Boneless 2."

Cheese hit his head against the trunk. "Well, I guess we'll be up here for a while... hopefully it can't get any worse."

Tomato bit his lip and crossed his legs. He looked away from Cheese in embarrassment, muttering something under his breath.

And then, Cheese felt a sharp pain in his flank, and the familiar accordion notes played. His tail pointed to a random direction, and Cheese groaned and hit his head on the trunk again. "Why now? Ugh... Cheesy Sense says to go to Nickerlite."

Tomato narrowed his eyes, shifting uncomfortably on the branch. "Are you always this testy after getting chased by a monster?"

Cheese turned and glared at him for a solid ten seconds, in a manner that told him to shut up. With a snort, he glanced down at Bighoof and said, "He's wearing your suit jacket."

"What?!" Tomato took a look at Bighoof, and sure enough, he was wearing the jacket, which was visibly ripping. "Oh, come on!"

* * *

 _"...take one down, pass it around, no more buckets of oats on the wall."_

It was the evening, and the both of them were still stuck in the tree, passing the time by singing songs. Bighoof was still at bay, playing with the stuff that Cheese had dropped, and laughing like an idiot the whole time, though he occasionally barked to keep the Sandwiches in line and out of his way.

Tomato rocked on his part of the branch, legs still crossed and his tail on top of them. He looked at Cheese, who had just barely finished the verse. "Is he still there?"

Cheese looked down at the base of the tree. He sighed. "Yep, he's still there."

"What's he doing now?"

"Um... apparently my accordion and a rock wearing a party hat are in love. Seriously, he's got a soap opera going on down there." Cheese's leg twitched, and he slapped it. "Augh, he better leave soon or my Cheesy Sense is going to kill me!"

Both of their stomachs growled, to which Tomato said, "Or we'll die of starvation. Seriously, I hate that we're not allowed to eat." He rocked some more, and he crossed his legs even tighter. "Or relieve ourselves."

"Well, hopefully he'll get bored of us soon."

Tomato scowled. "Perhaps if you didn't make me use whipped cream as shaving cream..."

Cheese glared back. "Oh, you're blaming me for this?"

"Hey, I did say that it would attract animals. As of right now, Bighoof is an animal."

"In that case, let's call Fluttershy, I'm sure she'd be a big help! Besides, you didn't have to use it-heck, you didn't have to shave, ya know!"

Tomato snorted. "Facial hair feels weird to me. Why would I keep something I don't want?"

"Tough cookies, it's better than needing to go and having to hold it in all day while sitting in a tree." Cheese leaned against the trunk, pulled out a harmonica, and started to play a sad tune.

Tomato blinked. "Uh, Cheese? A harmonica is a musical instrument."

Cheese stopped playing. "Yeah, and?"

"Remember that idea you had about music soothing the savage beast?"

"Oh?" Cheese looked at the harmonica, and his eyes widened. He smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh! Duh, why didn't I think of the harmonica earlier?"

He whistled, getting Bighoof's attention. "Hey! Bighoof!"

Bighoof roared in response, making both brothers flinch. Still, Cheese continued, "Now, now, don't be like that. Let me play you a song on my lovely harmonica here." With that, Cheese took a deep breath, and started to play the first song that came to mind.

Tomato recognized the tune as one of his favorite songs, and silently wished that a piano was there to accompany it. Still, he had to gauge the reaction of Bighoof, who was intently listening to the music. Both Sandwiches watched as Bighoof blankly watched them, his ears twitching and his head tilting. The horse pursed his lips as he was trying to decide what to make of this song.

Finally, after about a minute or two, Bighoof roared, turned around, and bucked the tree. The resulting shake made Cheese drop the harmonica, and Tomato nearly falling off the branch, only to be saved by his tail. Now hanging from the branch like a possum, Tomato watched as Bighoof crushed the harmonica, and then threw the flattened instrument somewhere far away.

Cheese clung to the tree. "Did he not like the song?"

"Stupid horse, having no taste," Tomato snarled.

Bighoof roared once again, and started to buck at the tree rapidly. The tree was now in a constant rattle, which made both their stomachs churn and both their heads ache. Even worse, Tomato was in a precarious situation from where he hung. Although his tail was usually reliable, neither he nor Cheese believed that it could hang on for long in this situation. Tomato could already feel his grip loosening, and he looked at the ground pretty far down below. Hitting it was not going to be fun, and being within Bighoof's reach was going to be less so.

One final buck would make Tomato fall, and he was bracing himself for the inevitable.

Luckily, the final buck never came, as before Bighoof could do it, a mare shot out from the woods, jumped on his back, and caught him in a chokehold. Both Sandwiches watched in amazement as despite all of Bighoof's bucking and roaring neighs, the mare still clung on, without any sign of letting go. Bighoof ran away from the tree, still trying to kick her off, but it was all fruitless.

It was about a minute before she made a single move to wrestle him down, and she held him down on the ground for several seconds, giving him quite a nasty stare. Bighoof kicked and screamed to try to fight her off, but he soon cowed under her glare. He started whining like a puppy.

"Bighoof, what did I say about harassing travelers?" the mare scolded.

Bighoof looked away in shame.

The mare clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Shame on you, Bighoof! I told you time and time again that you don't bother ponies that are camping out here! I told you to mind your own business and keep yourself hidden, and they'd leave you alone. But, no, you just had to try to kill them, huh?" She released her grip on the larger equine, and both stood up. "Now... go. Go to your cave and think about what you've done."

With a hanging head, Bighoof turned around and ambled off. With a sigh, the mare looked up at the tree where the Sandwiches were. "You can come down now. He won't bother you no more."

Cheese let out a sigh of relief, and jumped down to the next branch. He grabbed Tomato from where he hung, and then climbed down the rest of the way. They met the mare at the base of the tree, seeing her up close. It turned out that she was an older mare, with a pink coat, golden eyes, and a light brown mane done up in a bun, with the exception of some bangs hanging from her left.

"Thanks for the help," Cheese said.

"Oh, it's no problem. I'm terribly sorry about Bighoof. Some days he's shy, and some days he's hostile. Can't really tell how he's feeling on any given day."

"So, uh, is he your kid?"

"Oh, no, he's not-I don't have any kids. I'm not even married! Still, I have to parent him whenever he pulls a stunt like this." She blew on her bangs, and then smiled warmly at them. "So what are your names, dearies?"

"I'm Cheese Sandwich, and this is my brother, Tomato Sandwich." He thrust out a hoof.

The mare took the hoof and shook it. "I'm Sedimentary Rock-but you can call me 'Seddie.' You're welcome to stay at my cabin until morning."

Cheese looked away. "Oh, well, we don't want to take advantage of-"

"Oh, no, I insist. Bighoof might forget about my scolding... again." Seddie sighed. "He always does."

Cheese sighed as well. "I guess when you put it that way... one night won't hurt."

Seddie clapped her hooves. "Good! I have a couple of spare rooms for lost hikers and campers. I promise you'll be safe. Follow me."

Seddie trotted off, with the Sandwiches behind her. While they did so, Tomato asked, "So... do you have an outhouse I can use?"

* * *

 **A/N: I have no idea how ponies trim their facial hair-but considering that they grow facial hair, I assume that they do. Let's not take this seriously, I only came up with that scene because I wanted to do a little parody of the song "Shameless" (you could listen to either the Billy Joel or Garth Brooks versions).**

 **For some reason, when I was little, I had heard it as "Shaving", and I still find it funny to this day.**

 **This chapter was kind of sort of inspired by the Bigfoot scene in A Goofy Movie. Except Bighoof is meaner... eeeeuggghh...**

 **Oh, yeah, and raise your hand if you're happy to see Seddie again! That is, if you've read The Rock Farmer's Daughters.**


	9. The Big Sibling

_Cheese forced a grin as he waved goodbye to Tommy from his seat at the table. The younger brother was being taken to the zoo by one of his friends, leaving Cheese home alone with Mom once again._

 _Tommy waved back. "Bye, Cheesy! See ya later!"_

 _As Tommy shut the door behind him, Cheese's face fell, and he went back to the grand old torture of childhood._

 _Homework._

 _As he faced the paper, he glanced at his mother, who was sipping at a glass of water. When she finished her sip, she sighed, and looked at the garbage can, which miraculously did not have anything broken as a result of any burst of energy from her younger son. Then she looked at her older son, who had never broken any of her things. She shook her head._

 _"Siblings... quite an enigma. They always manage to be so different while bearing similar traits. I mean, just how did I end up producing both a quiet son and a rambunctious son?"_

 _Even if he didn't have a pencil in his mouth, Cheese would have not answered. He rolled his eyes in response, knowing that the inevitable comparison that was coming. He tried to focus on his division, which unfortunately required him to divide big numbers with big numbers. He was stuck on number five, which meant he was wasting the afternoon on this stupid paper. He squinted his eyes, suppressing a snarl at the numbers lying before him. Who invented homework?_

 _His mother sipped at her glass, rubbing her head. "I remember when my sister would drive me up a wall. I've tried to keep her in line, but our mother and father wouldn't let me. They always saw her as the little angel that could do no wrong, just because she was younger. Puh, all she was was a lazy, timid filly who always cried her way out of trouble."_

 _Cheese winced. While he had his own problems with Tomato, at least he wasn't bad enough for Cheese to let out a string of insults about him. He was a little bit glad that Tommy was out with with friends this time, since if he kept bothering him, Cheese would never get his blasted homework done. He shook his head. If only all his outings were this convenient._

 _His mother finished her glass. "I'm glad you never got to meet her; she left once she earned enough money from her job and bought a house somewhere far away. I don't know, she never told us where she was moving. Even so, she would have been a bad influence on you boys had she stayed."_

 _Cheese was curious about his aunt, but it was best not to question it. After all, what if she was as bad as Mom said? He nearly shuddered at the thought of his Dad's sister, Cocoa, who was not very nice._

 _His mother sighed. "Siblings are such a curse, I wish I had been an only child."_

 _Cheese raised an eyebrow. She was exaggerating again. If siblings were such a curse, why did she have two foals? Why would she want to curse her firstborn with a little brother? And if anything, playing with Tommy made him happy. Though he wondered if Tommy was just happy to have fun, no matter who he was playing with. Would it have made any difference if Cheese wasn't around anymore, now that Tommy had made friends?_

 _"Now, your brother's smart, but he's a destructive little animal. You're a mellow colt, but you're lagging behind..."_

 _Cheese leaned into his hoof._ Here we go again _._

 _His mother walked to the sink, washed out her glass, and took out a towel to dry it. "Somehow, I need to make you two have the best of both worlds, so I won't be a failure as a parent. Imagine what you could become once you get those grades up. A doctor, a lawyer, a businesspony-perhaps even the mayor! The possibilities are endless, Cheese, and hopefully you'll become one of those I mentioned, settle down with Dolly's little girl, and maybe rise to the top and become a respected member of society. And Mozzarella will be a proud mother."_

 _Cheese gagged. "Mom, I told you, I don't like Balcony Flowerbox."_

 _Mozzarella scoffed. "Nonsense, Cheese. That's what all colts say about a filly that's their destined. Your father didn't like me when we were foals."_

 _Cheese pointed at his glasses. "Mom, she called me four eyes and made fun of my hair."_

 _"Some foals express affection that way. Besides, Dolly and I agree that you two would go well together. And if she and I agree, well, it must be a perfect match."_

 _Cheese cringed. "Mom!"_

 _She opened a cupboard and put the glass in it. "Don't argue, Cheese. Mother knows best. Besides, your brother has good taste in fillies."_

 _Cheese stuck his tongue out. "Creme Brulee's worse... I need to knock some sense into Tommy..."_

 _"He already has sense in that department. He just needs to learned to be sensible with that energy of his. Otherwise, he'll end up breaking something expensive."_

 _Cheese sighed, and looked at his math paper. At this rate, with his mother yammering on, he'll never get it done. Though the thought of asking her for help was arising in his mind, he knew it was useless, and would most likely bring more of her scolding._

 _Mozzarella walked out of the kitchen, went to the coat rack, and grabbed a coat. As she put it on, she said, "Now, I have a book club to go to; your grandmother's coming over to watch you and make sure you finish that homework. After all, last time I left you home alone, you kept playing your noisy instrument instead of finishing that essay on frogs."_

 _Cheese snorted. Of course she took a potshot toward his accordion. It wasn't like it was hurting anypony; all he was doing was making music. Still, he was tempted to smile upon hearing that Gramma was coming over. Being as nice and smart as she was, there was no doubt in his mind that she'd be a ton of help in helping him finish his homework._

 _Plus, he was curious about this sister of Mom's._

* * *

 _Cheese still sat at that table, at least now starting to get long division. Beside him sat his grandmother, Cucumber Melon, gently helping him through his problems. She spoke slowly and softly, going quiet to let Cheese answer the question once she had given the proper instructions. She worked with him on the last problem, watching as he wrote down the final numbers._

 _"...and that should leave you with a remainder of five," the green unicorn said._

 _Cheese breathed a sigh of relief, spat out his pencil, and ran to the coat rack to stuff the paper in his saddlebag. He then jumped onto the couch, glad that it was finally done. He smiled at his grandma, who walked in and climbed on the couch to sit with him. "Thanks, Gramma. I was worried that I'd never get this dumb division. After all, if I don't get it, Mom would yell at me again."_

 _Cucumber shook her head. "Do I have to keep reminding her that scolding you like that instead of working through the problem will get her nowhere? There's challenging your children, and then there's just stressing them out."_

 _Cheese turned and threw himself onto one of the throw pillows, looking up at the ceiling. "I hate math."_

 _"Lots of ponies do, Cheesy, dear. Sometimes I wonder if it's even necessary."_

 _"Necess... airy?"_

 _"Necessary. It means needed."_

 _"Oh." Cheese twiddled his hooves. "Is it?"_

 _Cucumber nodded. "When you need to count things quickly, figure out how much time it would take to get from Point A to Point B, manage the bits you earn, to figure out just how many certain things you need for a certain event, make proper measurements for when you're building something... oh, goodness, why are there so many branches of math?"_

 _Cheese whickered. "I don't know, but Tommy seems to have it figured out."_

 _Cucumber blinked. "Oh? Well, good on him."_

 _Cheese snorted and grabbed another throw pillow to mash in his face. "Why did_ he _have to be the smart one? He keeps almost dying for being dumb! Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't save him and just let him die."_

 _Cucumber gasped. "Cheese! That's an awful thing to say!"_

 _Cheese sat up. "Sorry, Grandma, but he better stop running into the street, or leaning too far when we're near the bay or on the bridge or on a building, or approaching a scary-looking pony with candy. Maybe if he died, Mom would stop telling me to be as good at math as he is." He blew a raspberry. "It's only because he's got the easy math. Wait until he gets to division with BIG numbers."_

 _Cucumber stared at him for a moment, her brow creasing. "Cheese... are you jealous of your brother?"_

 _Cheese fell back onto the throw pillow. "No. Why?"_

 _"The way you're talking, you sounded like you were jealous. I smell a sibling rivalry brewing."_

 _"Why would I be? He's the one who's jealous of me!" Cheese grinned. "I'm the one who plays an instrument. He keeps wishing he could."_

 _Cucumber pursed her lips. "I really need to talk to Mozzarella about how she treats you boys. I'm worried that she'll drive you two into a bad relationship like she and her own sister are in."_

 _Cheese sat back up. "I wanted to ask about that. Who is Mom's sister? Is she as bad as Mom says she is?"_

 _Cucumber sighed, and leaned back into the couch. "Your aunt Honeydew was a shy little filly, who could hardly bring herself to talk to very many ponies. She made it no secret that she hated city life, and oftentimes, the rudeness of some ponies made her cry. Yes, she was very sensitive, and didn't really want to share some of her personal desires with anypony._

 _"However, she loved nature and flowers and animals like there was no tomorrow. She loved it when we camped, and let me tell you, she was the type to roll in the dirt and make weird chirping noises at random objects. She'd play in the river, crawl through hollow logs, and pretend that she was a pegasus. Your grandfather and I held great joy in watching her explore, and wished for the day she'd bloom and express herself."_

 _Cheese giggled, twiddling his hooves. "I know how she feels. I'm... kind of... shy myself. Say, was she a unicorn like you, Gramma?"_

 _Cucumber shook her head. "No, she was an earth pony like your grandfather and mother. Anyway, she was pretty much the opposite of your mother." She frowned. "Unfortunately, instead of focusing on common ground, like the fact that they both had a love for dress up and enjoying swimming, they kept fighting about the things that set them apart. And, well... it always ended with Honeydew crying."_

 _She rubbed her temples. "No matter how much Pizza and I tried to keep them from fighting, the fights only grew worse and worse. Honeydew always accused your mother of being too bossy and mean, and your mother always accused her of faking her crying just to get attention and being a spoiled brat. Their teenage years were a nightmare..."_

 _She sighed. "Once they reached adulthood, Honeydew packed up and left, telling us that we let your mother be mean to her for far too long. After that, we never heard from her again. Our hearts were broken, and we thought ourselves horrible parents for letting it get out of hand."_

 _She turned to Cheese. "I hope from the bottom of my heart that you and Tomato don't end up like that. Your bond has been a joy to behold since you've first held him and called him 'your baby'. Can you try your best to keep that bond strong, even after those times you do fight?"_

 _Cheese crossed his front legs. "I don't know... he's got lots of new friends now, and hasn't played with me in a while." His face fell. "I'm just the lame, four-eyed geek that everypony picks on. He doesn't need me to embarrass him when he's got the 'cool kids' hanging out with him."_

 _Cucumber leaned forward and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Don't worry, it's only the excitement of a new experience getting to him. He'll come back around. After all, no matter how many friends he has, there is nopony... absolutely nopony who can take your place in his heart. Not even his future spouse-if he ends up with one-could do that. It may not seem like it now, but he'll still need you for years to come."_

 _Cheese looked into her brown eyes, pursing his lips. He slowly nodded, and just accepted the hug from his grandmother._

 _"Oh, I love you so much. You're such a wonderful colt, and I know you're destined for something amazing."_

 _As they broke the hug, Cheese asked, "Gramma... you think when I'm grown up, I could find Aunt Honeydew? I'd like to meet her someday."_

 _Cucumber chuckled. "Be sure to say 'hi' to her for me, Cheese."_

* * *

The longer he sat on the red-and-purple plaid couch across from Sedimentary Rock, felt himself growing comfortable after sitting in a tree all day, and breathed in the pine smell, the more and more familiar that the mare looked. It struck him as odd, because when he went through these woods before, he never ran into anypony. Especially not Bighoof of all ponies. Boy, he couldn't wait to tell that crazy story, and he wondered if Tomato would tell it, or just assume that nopony would believe him and keep quiet about it.

He and his brother were wrapped in blankets, and in their hooves were mugs of hot cocoa. Tomato was looking curiously around at the pictures that hung from the walls, while Seddie sipped at her own cocoa.

"Well, you certainly like cats... and trains... and rocks," Tomato said, looking at each picture.

Seddie put her mug down on the coffee table and nodded. "I've always wanted a cat. Unfortunately, my father was allergic to not just cats, but also dogs, rabbits, and several other kinds of animals, so we never had a pet. Trainspotting is one of my hobbies, since I've found them fascinating since I was a little filly. As for the rocks... well, I grew up on a rock farm..."

Cheese chuckled. "What a coincidence! I have a friend who grew up on a rock farm. Gee, no wonder you're so tough."

"Yeah, rock farmers do develop great strength. And keeping Bighoof in check keeps me strong."

"Do you know how he came to be?" Tomato asked.

Seddie shook her head. "I don't. He just appeared out of nowhere one day and attacked me. Of course, I beat him into submission and he hasn't crossed me since." She giggled. "So, where are you boys from?"

"Manehattan," Tomato answered.

"Oh, Manehattan." Seddie sighed and leaned in her hoof. "I've been there... lots of character, lots of diversity, but also a lot of attitude! I've bumped into many a snippy pony while I was there."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "I hear that a lot. In fact, that's how my friend's first day was."

Seddie tapped her hooves together. "Oh, that wasn't my biggest problem. Quite frankly, the tall buildings scared me."

Tomato blinked. "I don't hear that often."

Seddie shrugged. "What can I say? Sometimes I wonder how they stay up. I just kept imaging a major disaster in that city that would make buildings fall over, or crumble, or shake some ponies off the buildings. No matter what, my mind just kept going to a worst case scenario involving skyscrapers where a lot of ponies die!"

Tomato stared at her for a moment, put his mug down, and hid under his blanket. "Thanks for getting it into _my_ head. Sheesh, the buildings are supposed to be stable, lady!"

Seddie rubbed the back of her head. "Also, I couldn't catch a cab."

"It happens."

Cheese cleared his throat. "Well, if I'm going to be honest, I've actually been out on the road since I was eleven. I'm just dragging Tommy around on a road trip this summer to show him the rest of Equestria and strengthen our bond as brothers."

Seddie put a hoof to her chest. "Aww... so are you the older brother?"

Cheese nodded. "Yep! You got it on the first try!" Cheese put his mug down, reached behind his back, and pulled out a slice of cake. As he gave it to her, he said, "Your prize, ma'am."

Seddie blinked as she received the cake, and stared at it for a moment. As she sniffed it, she began to laugh. "Oh, my! Where did you get this?"

Cheese put a hoof to his lips and winked. "Shh... a party pony doesn't reveal his secrets."

"Not even to his brother," Tomato remarked from under his blanket. Cheese elbowed him in response.

Seddie giggled. "Like a magician? Well, I wouldn't want to ruin the magic now, would I?" She took a bite out of the cake, and hummed in delight. She gazed at the lump where Tomato hid as she chewed.

She swallowed her bite, and told him, "Make sure you appreciate the things that your big brother does for you; from what I gathered from my own big brother, it's a pretty tough job to look after your younger siblings. Cheese here is like... the gift that was prepared for you before you were born!"

Cheese put a hoof to his chest. "D'aw, I'm a gift? You're too kind."

"Well, you're both gifts to each other from your parents, am I right?"

Cheese's grin fell, and he glanced at the lump under the blanket. He recalled the day Tomato was born. As far away as it was, Cheese could still remember the soft colors of the hospital room, the nurse writing down the name of the newborn foal, the excited but reverent whispers of his grandparents, and the new baby smell. But most prominent was how amazed and happy he had been to cradle his baby brother with his own small forelegs. Cheese had not been much bigger than baby Tommy, but he still felt strong as he held up the little foal and announced, _"This my baby."_

But for the life of him, he couldn't recall if his parents smiled or not.

Cheese forced a grin, and he nodded. He felt like he was lying, but there was no way he could read his parents' minds. He was probably just overthinking it.

Seddie sighed, set her cake next to her cocoa, and leaned in her hoof. "Yeah, it's times like this that I miss my own brother."

Tomato poked his head from under the blanket. "Is he dead?"

"Oh, no no, he's... actually, I haven't contacted him in a long time. I don't know what he's been up to since the last time we've seen each other. Oh, I sure hope he married that mare he was courting..."

"So, uh... when did you last see each other?"

"About thirty years ago."

Cheese nearly jumped out of his seat. "Uh... just what happened between you two that made you unwilling to speak for that long?"

Seddie raised her head and raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Unwilling? Are you saying we're feuding?"

Cheese and Tomato glanced at each other and winced. Clearing his throat, Cheese said, "Oh, no, no, no, I didn't mean to imply that... okay, maybe I did. But that's just because neither of our parents saw eye to eye with their siblings, especially since our mom's sister ran off and we never met her, and Tommy and I are kinda sorta recovering from our own squabbles and-"

Seddie leaned forward and shoved a hoof in Cheese's mouth, her brow furrowed. Once she removed the hoof, Cheese sank in his seat, and it was his turn to hide under his blanket.

Seddie sighed once again. "It wasn't that we had a bad relationship-oh, no, we actually got along pretty good. It's just... I was a foolhardy teenager that didn't listen to his warnings about some things I was doing, and ended up getting myself into trouble and getting humiliated for it. The last time I saw his face, there was just so much shock and disappointment in it that I couldn't bear to look at him. So... really, I've just been too ashamed to talk to him for all this time."

There was silence. Cheese slowly brought his head out of the blanket, looking around and trying to find the words to say. Seddie picked up her mug and sipped, her eyes looking downward and her face somber. Tomato reached forward and picked up his mug, and started gulping down his cocoa. After a moment of thinking, Cheese gave up on coming up with consoling words, and did the same as Tomato.

Once the cocoa was finished, Seddie looked at the clock. "Perhaps you boys should get to bed."

* * *

So it was that they were spending the night in one of Seddie's spare rooms, where she'd let travelers and lost hikers and campers stay so they didn't have to spend the night outside. After all, with Bighoof out there, they were most certainly in danger.

The brothers laid in two beds that were across the room from each other and near the window. There were a couple of other beds on the other side of the room, and Cheese wondered just how many ponies had been lost at one time. There was a nightstand with a lamp between his and Tomato's beds, and there was a couple mirrors on the walls. But, other than that, the room was pretty bare.

Cheese laid awake in the dark, staring at the ceiling. Once morning rolled around, he'd have to gather all his party items, fix his accordion again, and then he and Tomato would head to Nickerlite. If he recalled correctly, they had to find the rail line and follow it there. Then, whatever shindig was being planned in the small town would be grand.

Still, he couldn't help but ponder about his role as the older brother. He glanced at Tomato, who was curled up into a ball and facing the wall, with slow, even breathing that indicated a peaceful slumber.

He recalled hearing somewhere that a big sibling was like a mini-parent, a foal who'd have to watch someone from a young age and be their protector, even though their parents were usually around. Seddie was right in saying it was a tough job, since he knew from experience just how irritating a younger sibling could be. He remembered all the times that Tomato had done something stupid to nearly kill himself, his obliviousness, his klutzy nature, the continual pestering to come out of his room and show Tommy's friends just how "cool" of a pony he was.

Even now, when he had become a far more mellow pony, Tomato found new ways to be irritating.

Cheese shook his head. Sometimes he wondered why he was born first. Sometimes he wondered why he wasn't an only child. Sometimes he wondered that out of all possible brothers and sisters, he got Tomato.

He looked at Tomato again, and just noticed that this was how their room had been arranged when they were foals-minus the extra beds and with more furniture, of course. Staring at his little brother, he was half-expecting Tomato to jump out of bed and right onto him, like when they were colts. He half-expected a request for them to sneak a midnight snack from the fridge. He half-expected a random telling of a dream, like that time Tommy blurted out his dream of Cheese being a dog and they played under a full moon.

He smiled. Of course it was those little, funny moments of bonding and playtime and inside jokes that made putting up with Tomato's annoying moments worthwhile. Those moments where Tomato would happily greet him when he came home from school; those days when they'd play in the fall leaves or the snow in the park; those hours they'd spend being cowspies and fighting Dr. Sauerkraut. Those colthood days when they had been two peas in a pod who believed they'd be "best brother buddies" forever.

He sighed. He was still ashamed to say that those days didn't last.

He had made a promise to Grandma that he'd try his best to keep their bond strong. But so much of the stress from nearly every single thing that was in his life got to him, and it didn't help that she and Grandpa had passed away soon after, so he had no one to turn to. And in turn, he shut out Tommy out of jealousy of all the friends, the high marks, and the praise the younger brother earned, and resentment of his own situation.

Cheese huffed and turned to face the wall. _Why am I doing this again? His life back in Manehattan couldn't have been that bad if he had it good as a colt. Please, somepony tell me what he needs me for._

He wanted to hit himself after thinking that. He had to remind himself that the trip was only just beginning, they didn't even do a Summer Sun party yet, and that this whole thing would be worth it. After all, he was doing this because he loved his little brother, and wanted to see him happy.

Also, he Pinkie Promised. An that was a promise that he couldn't break.

Still, he couldn't help but worry that things would go bad again. He didn't want to end up like Mom and her sister or Dad and his sister. He didn't even want the kind of shame that isolated Seddie from her brother. He felt torn by her words spoken just a couple hours before, and the words of his mother from long ago.

 _Is Tomato a blessing or a curse?_

* * *

 **A/N: And now, another flashback.**

 **And more on the Mozzarella and Honeydew story.**

 **And more Seddie.**

 **And hot cocoa. Now I'm thirsty for hot cocoa.**

 **Pfft, yeah, I'll just say now that the flashbacks won't exactly be in order. After all, we first have the Tomato's cutie mark flashback, then the setup for the big confrontation that made things worse between Cheese and Tomato, and then a flashback to before their grandparents died.**

 **Eh, I just thought this flashback fit the chapter.**

 **Oh! I almost forgot! Credit for this "Balcony Flowerbox" filly that was set up for Cheese by his mom mentioned in the flashback goes to Scoots2 from FIMfiction.**


	10. This Town is Too Small

Once morning came and Cheese had all his things gathered and his accordion and Tomato's suit jacket fixed, Seddie led them both, all dressed up as cowponies again, to the railroad. She navigated the woods quite easily, and kept an eye out for Bighoof, in case he was having a second bad day in a row. On the way there, she explained that following the railroad made for easier travel since they were heading to Nickerlite. Usually the train tunnel was an obstacle, since going through it meant that they were at risk of being in the way of a train with no escape, so she was taking them to an area past that point.

Once they were there, Seddie said, "And here we are. Things should be mostly smooth sailing, as long as you keep a good distance away from the tracks."

Cheese tipped his hat. "Thanks a lot, Seddie. We appreciate the help."

Tomato nodded. "Who knows how long we'd have been stuck in that tree if you hadn't come along."

Cheese playfully nudged his brother. "Reminds me of the time you got chased up a lamppost by a pack of dogs."

Tomato scowled at him. "Good to know."

Cheese turned to Seddie and grinned at her. "Are you sure that you don't want to come to the party? It's going to be _fu-un_..."

Seddie's face fell, and she backed up. She grinned nervously, and said, "Oh, I'm not all that big on parties these days-they're always too loud and the refreshments always make me sick. And there are a lot of drunkards walking the streets of Nickerlite, and I'm not big on that-I prefer Ponyville anyway. Besides... you never know when Bighoof is going to have a bad day. A lot of ponies go camping this time of year, don't ya know? They might be in danger..."

Cheese and Tomato glanced at each other. Something seemed a little off about her, especially with that forced grin. Before either could say anything, she exclaimed, "Good bye!" and rushed back into the forest.

Blinking, Cheese turned to his brother and said, "Well, she seems nervous about Nickerlite. I don't see why, it was just fine last time I visited."

Tomato pursed his lips. "Bluejinx works there during school breaks, and he doesn't have many complaints aside from most of the townsfolk being idiots."

Cheese grinned. "Hey... looks like we're seeing your pal soon!"

Tomato smirked. "Oh, yeah... boy, is he in for a surprise."

Cheese laughed and looked at the railroad. He turned right, and trotted alongside it. "Come on, baby bro! The party can't set up itself!"

Tomato rolled his eyes and followed.

* * *

It was about an hour of walking before they spotted some buildings. Once they did, they sprung into a full gallop, not going to waste another second. After all, the sooner they could get there, the more time there was to set up whatever party was going to be.

They soon found themselves looking down a dusty street of what looked like a small Old Western town. Various shops and small businesses lined the street, built out of what looked like old wood. Ponies were going in and out of the shops, with those exiting carrying various goods. In the case of one building, a pony with a strange headgear walked out, startling some ponies. Another building had a bottle shoot out of its doors and shatter on the door of the shop across from it. And another building had a pony with a scarily large smile trot out with a couple dozen loaves of bread.

Tomato watched as a cabbage cart rolled down the street and barrel towards him and Cheese. They sidestepped before the cart could hit them, and witnessed the collision between the cart and the train coming into the rock-themed station. The result was an explosion of cabbage leaves and splintered wood. Not five seconds later, a green pony dashed in between them, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"When I hear about small towns, they're usually described as 'sleepy'," Tomato remarked. "Or 'quiet'. Or 'peaceful'."

Cheese was still staring at the weeping cabbage merchant. "Yep, Nickerlite's a lively place." He walked forward, with Tomato alongside him. "Careful, these ponies have a tendency to gossip. The last time I was here, I had to pretty much beat them over the head with what the true definition of a party pony is."

Tomato quirked an eyebrow. "Which is...?"

Cheese sighed. "A spreader of joy and laughter-not some crazy drunk pony who goes around making 'love' and nasty messes in every town they go in. Seriously, they thought that about Pinkie..."

"Seriously? As far as I can tell, her mind doesn't even go there."

"Exactly! A lot of ponies don't seem to get it!" Cheese took a deep breath, and patted Tomato's back. "I'm sure glad you do. I was worried you wouldn't."

"In the long run, the crazy drunk pony you described would cause a lot of misery. I've met a few at school, and I hated them. Always telling me that I'm too uptight and need to get out more and do stupid junk like you described..." Tomato blew on his forelock. He glanced at Cheese. "Ever thought about giving Mom a wake up call like that?"

Cheese snorted. "I've tried. Got the same old verbal beatdown about how she's right and how I need to stop throwing my life away. You see why I don't visit often?"

"For years I thought it was because you hated me."

"Nah, I always liked you best, even when you were being a stubborn little grumpypants."

Tomato narrowed his eyes and glanced away. "Gee, thanks."

From the corner of his eye, Tomato spotted something blue. He turned to it, and sure enough, there was Bluejinx, whistling a merry tune as he set up a poster. He tapped Cheese's shoulder. "Hey, look who I found."

Cheese turned and spotted the blue unicorn. "Oh, goody! Are you going to sneak up on him?"

"Maybe... maybe not. Either way, he's going to be surprised," Tomato chuckled, casually strolling toward his friend.

However, as he walked, a pair of laughing foals crashed into his front legs and made him stumble. His chin hit the dusty road and made him bite his tongue. His back legs were still standing, albeit in an awkward position with his rear end up in the air, while his front legs were lying spread out in front of him. His hat covered his face, and his stomach felt just a tiny bit queasy.

"Stayman! Idared! You done gone and made somepony trip over ya!" a rough, male voice with a drawl yelled.

Cheese rushed to Tomato's side, and pulled him up by way of grabbing the collar of the serape. He fixed his brother's hat and dusted him off, as a large, green, red-headed pony passed by them, grumbling under his breath. He stopped when a filly and colt came back and slid to right in front of the Sandwich brothers.

Tomato couldn't help but compare how they looked to Flora. Both of the foals were light green with strawberry blonde hair, much like she was. Of course, the foals had green eyes, while Flora had blue, and the colt had freckles while the filly had her mane done in braided pigtails.

"Pardon us, Mister! We just got awful excited for the party!" the colt said.

The filly nodded. "Eeyup, and-" Her eyes fell on Cheese, and she lit up. She jumped forward to hug his legs. "Well, howdy again! I thought I'd never see ya again!"

Cheese grinned at her. "So, you remember me..."

"Eeyup! You here for the party, Mr. Cheese?"

Cheese smiled proudly. "Why, yes I am! I even brought my brother along for the ride."

That was when they noticed Bluejinx had turned around and was grinning at them. "Ah, I knew I heard a familiar voice!"

The green stallion gave Bluejinx a funny look. "You know the crazy Pie mare's beau?"

Cheese flushed red and backed up a few steps. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not jump to conclusions, fellas! Pinkie and I are amigos! Like, super duper party amigos that throw parties together from time to time! Yeah, you're just reading too much in it, guys... ehehe..."

Tomato turned to him and quirked an eyebrow. "Huh. I guess that smooch on the cheek at the last party was completely platonic."

Cheese grew redder than Tomato's fur as Bluejinx and the other pony laughed. He shot Tomato a glare and growled, "You're not helping!"

Tomato backed up and pursed his lips, tempted to stick his tongue out at Cheese. With a sigh, he turned to Bluejinx and asked, "So, mind introducing your friend and... whatever type of relative of his those twins are?"

The green pony narrowed his eyes at him. "My name is Cortland, and I'm only here because my brother and sister tripped you. And you are?"

Tomato gave Cortland an impassive look in return. "Tomato Sandwich."

The little colt marched up to him. "I'm Stayman!"

The filly jumped. "And Idared!"

Bluejinx then added, "They're Apples."

Tomato raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Apples, eh? So, what relation are you folks to Applejack?"

Cortland snorted. "Cousin."

Cheese popped up between them. "Ooo-kay, we are getting off track-what's the shindig about? My Cheesy Sense pulled me here, and it doesn't lie!"

Bluejinx walked forward and said, "It's the mayor's birthday. We were planning on having a surprise party in that field by the train station." He pointed in the general direction of the train station. "As of now, the Pie family is distracting him and his wife. How they're going about doing it, I have no idea."

"Goin' on about the history of rocks and makin' him fall asleep?" Cortland grumbled.

"Maybe they're showing him how they farm rocks," Cheese suggested with a grin.

Tomato glanced at the poster, which turned out to be a wanted poster for a rough-looking mare and stallion pair, labelled "Roanie and Stride". Pursing his lips, he jokingly suggested, "Perhaps they're out hunting those ruffians."

All went silent after Tomato said that. The way that the others looked at him made Tomato regret his joke, and silently remind himself that he was not the joking type. He winced as he expected somepony to yell at him.

It was Cortland who did so. "That was the most doggone stupid suggestion I have ever heard! The mayor is a short and scrawny little thing; he wouldn't last a minute against thugs like that! You think it's funny to joke about a couple of robbers like that? Well, you must think them gang members in cities like Manehattan, Chicacolt, and Las Pegasus must be hilarious!"

He looked up and down Tomato's body, and then lifted his poncho to find a brown suit jacket with a white button shirt and green tie underneath. He snorted. "You look like the type of pony they'd be after. Scrawny, and lookin' like a million bits. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up dead."

Cheese had his face in Cortland's faster than a wink, glaring daggers at him. "Hey! Don't you dare speak to my baby brother like that!"

Cortland blinked. "Baby brother?" He glanced at Tomato. "You really think of him as a baby?"

Stayman laughed. "He don't look like no baby! Does he cry a lot?"

Idared giggled. "I think he woulda been a mighty cute baby!"

Tomato's lips were tight, concealing the grinding teeth that laid within his mouth. Sometimes he wondered if Cheese always called him "baby bro" so he could be secretly condescending while still keeping that Pinkie Promise. After all, Tomato couldn't find that phrase endearing-more like rather insulting considering his age. He glared at the scene before him, wondering why he even bothered to humor Cheese with calling him that.

 _It's no different from those ponies back home who still think of me as that clumsy and annoying colt, even after I've outgrown those tendencies,_ he thought.

Cheese backed up from Cortland's face. "So? Foal or stallion, he's still my little brother, and I don't like that you implied those crooks would kill him should he meet them. You don't even know Tommy!"

Cortland huffed. "Oh, really? What would he do in a situation like that? I heard his kind turn tail and run off like the yellow-bellied cowards they are."

Cheese snorted. "Oh, sure, you'd assume that. But Tommy would..." He blinked and tapped his chin. "Tommy would... he would... uh..."

 _He's thinking of the Bighoof encounter, isn't he?_ Tomato exhaled through his nose. What else was he supposed to do? Hit him with the mirror? With Boneless 2? Try to imitate one of those crazy wrestlers?

Cortland pulled a wry grin. "Uh-huh... go on..."

"Well... well..." Cheese growled and stamped his hoof. "My brother's not a coward!"

"Well, why ain't he standing up for himself? Too afraid of my muscle?"

"Hey, everypony needs a second opinion. Besides, I'm his big brother, and I'm not about to let him be insulted like that."

"And you think the mayor should go after outlaws?"

"No, that's dumb, but he kind of included Igneous Rock in the joke, and Iggy's a pretty strong guy, so I don't think it was that bad of a joke..."

Cortland rolled his eyes. "You both have an awful sense of humor."

Cheese gave him a sour look, and growled in his low, gruff voice. "Listen here, cowpony..."

Tomato tuned out the argument, kicking at the dust. If anything, Cortland was right; he was the kind of pony who would retreat from that kind of situation with his tail between his legs, or just be the pony in distress, hanging out in a tree or lamppost, or nearly falling off something, or almost getting hit by a speeding carriage. He glanced between Cheese and Bluejinx, the two ponies who always had to rescue him from whatever disaster he got himself into.

He remembered a little term he overheard his mother use to describe him: A walking disaster. Cortland, in his argument with Cheese, was bluntly calling Tomato a burden. And looking at his own four legs, he received a silent reminder of how he was not built for outdoor work, and a flashback to a broken accordion reminded him of how he and parties don't mix.

He looked at his cutie mark. _What good would that do out here?_

Bluejinx came between Cheese and Cortland, and pushed them apart. "Okay! Okay! That's enough, you two. We have a party to set up, and it's best not to make a party pony _angry_." He leaned toward Cortland and whispered, "Seriously, Cortland, they're terrifying."

Cheese sat down on the ground, took off his hat, and pulled a pen and notepad out of it. "Righty-O! Sheesh, sometimes I forget I have a bit of a temper. Anyway... what do you guys have planned so far?"

Stayman hopped up and down. "Our family's providin' an awful lot of apple treats! We have caramel apples, apple pies, apple fritters..."

Idared looked up dreamily. "The candy shop owners are bringing lots and lots of candy! Oh! And I hope they bring their foal! She's so cute..."

Cortland crossed his forelegs and rolled his eyes. "There's gonna be a hoedown, too."

Bluejinx shrugged. "I'm just helping with the decorations. I can show you the party site if you'd like."

Cheese scribbled everything down and put the things back in his hat. He stood back up, slammed his head into his hat on the ground, and those rose back up with the hat on his head. "Not a bad idea. I'd like to know just where I could put the fruit punch lake and the hippo rides."

Bluejinx gave him a funny look. "Do you realize how dangerous and surly hippos are...?"

Cheese waved a hoof in dismissal. "Rupert's completely tame! That's a party pony guarantee."

As he and Tomato followed Bluejinx to the site, Cheese whispered to Tomato, "Okay, now, I was thinking that you could help Bluejinx decorate. I'm sure he'll be happy to have you as a helping hoof."

"Isn't he a unicorn? He has magic to do it himself." Tomato growled.

"Hey, now, don't judge based on pony type-that's a no-no. Besides, I've learned that unicorn magic can't do everything itself. A simple hoof can work wonders..."

"I might break something..."

"Sheesh, quit being so hard on yourself, you'll be fine. And then, once everything is all finished, you two go out to the Pies and retrieve the mayor. Then you three can happily trot on back, and then, boom! Surprise! Sound like a plan?"

Tomato was silent for a moment, pondering Cheese's plan. He remembered how Princess Twilight had told him that he couldn't avoid helping with the setup of a party all summer, and how it would rub Cheese the wrong way if he did. The last thing he needed was to get on Cheese's bad side again.

Besides, unlike Ponyville, Nickerlite didn't have a party disaster that involved him.

He glanced back at Cheese. "What if I run into Roanie and Stride?"

Cheese laughed. "Don't worry, baby bro. Last I heard, they had been in Dodge Junction. You'll be fine."

* * *

 **A/N: Yippee, this one turned out to be another groaner.**

 **You'd think a chapter that puts us back in Nickerlite, and introduces us to main 'verse Cortland, Stayman, and Idared (and Mr. Green!) would be more exciting. Well, I had a rough time writing this, and as such... this is sub-par compared with some of my other chapters. Ugh... -_-**

 **Hopefully, I can make things more exciting in this segment.**


	11. Into the Hills

The setup went off without a hitch-minus a few dropped treats and a few lost balloons. Still, none of those warranted a funeral, and were easily replaced. Ponies were excited for what Cheese Sandwich was planning, and everything was set up faster than expected.

Tomato still didn't feel fulfilled. All he did was carry a box of things, and occasionally hold down a ribbon so it could be tied. As nice as the colorful decorations were, he still felt like he didn't contribute enough. He was just a waste of space.

Still, he couldn't help but admire the party. The bows and ribbons were all in the mayor's favorite color-which apparently was various shades of purple. There were several kinds of cakes, cookies, and candies on the tables, and the bowl of fruit punch was big enough for about a dozen ponies to swim in. A mini-train, hippo rides, a large trampoline, and several makeshift bowling alleys were set up for the foals, and a large space was set apart for folk dancing.

The only things that were bothering Tomato was the presence of a clown and the unholy number of pickles and bowls of sauerkraut-the latter of which bothered Cheese as well. He opted to stand as far away from the pony and food as possible, and was even prepared to use Bluejinx as a weapon, much to the latter's annoyance.

Cheese stood proudly in the center, nodding in approval of everything. "All righty, then! Everything's all set up and we can start this thing once the mayor has been fetched. Bluejinx, Tomato?"

The pair saluted him, and trotted into the hills.

Once they were gone, Cheese sat down, and pulled out a hat full of strips of paper. "Who wants to play charades?"

* * *

The hills were quite lonely. There was nary a sound to be heard besides the clopping of all eight of the two stallions' hooves and the wind. All sounds of the party waiting to get started had ceased, and it was just two friends walking alone.

The hills had started out grassy. As they walked, however, the grass was beginning to get sparse, while rocks started to spot the landscape. Gradually, they came across less and less grass, and more and more rocks. They both found themselves watching their step, adopting evasive maneuvers to avoid tripping on rocks.

"Don't they ever smooth out this path or anything? You know, for pulling a cart?" Tomato asked.

"I've asked-Igneous Rock says that the rocky path doesn't bother him," Bluejinx says.

"Uh-huh. And if they're rock farmers, why are they called the Pies? And why didn't they name their daughter 'Rose Quartz' or something like that? I wouldn't expect the dull and serious type like Cheese described to name their daughter 'Pinkie Pie'."

Bluejinx chuckled. "Some folks around here joke that a 'Pinkamena' is some kind of rare mineral."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "And I'm a vegetable."

Bluejinx snorted and shook his head. He turned his head toward the mountains, which rose up beyond the nearby forest. His smile fell into a frown, and he stared at the snowy peaks sorrowfully and almost fearfully. His trot slowed down to an amble, and his ears twitched as if he were hearing something. He still gazed upon them, with his eyes widening as he grew more and more fearful.

Tomato noticed him slowing down, and then backed up to see why he was in such a trance. He didn't know what was going through Bluejinx's mind, and started tapping his shoulder. "Hey, Blue? Bluuueee? Hey, we have a job to do, remember?"

When Bluejinx didn't respond, that's when he pushed him. The unicorn stumbled to the side, and tripped on a rock. Once he landed in the dirt on his side, he looked up and glared.

"What was that for?" he spat.

"What is it about those mountains that's so hypnotizing?" Tomato asked. "Do you dream of being a mountain goat?"

Bluejinx snorted, and hoisted himself up. "Psht, no. I don't even like mountains."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "Poor Flora would be offended, she likes climbing them. What, you have a personal vendetta against the landforms?"

Bluejinx glared at him. "No. I'm just not comfortable with the thought of ponies that actually like to climb those things-no offense to Flora. I mean... that's how I lost my father. He went mountain climbing on one of his free days, and he fell. He had been missing for a week, and when he was found... it was not a pretty sight."

Tomato blinked. "Oh... oh." He cleared his throat. "I know you've said before that he died when you were five, but I never knew until now just how he died."

Bluejinx sighed. "Yeah. It's kind of why Mom moved away from Nickerlite when I was small."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... you lived here when you were little?"

Bluejinx nodded. "Yep, I was born here. It was a very long time ago, and I could barely remember anything about this town before I started working for Aunt Purple. All I remember is clinging to Dad's leg whenever he brought me to town, sitting in the corner whenever I was at a group playdate, and just playing inside the house because I was a really shy colt. Seriously, I couldn't even recognize most of the ponies my first summer working."

"So... you don't have much memory of your father?"

Bluejinx looked at the mountain again. "He's the most vivid memory of this place I have. He was big and intimidating, and Aunt Purple said that he was one of the strongest ponies in town behind the Pies and the Apples-but he was also very kind and helpful." He resumed his trot. "Of course, Mom has told me that he used to be a criminal as a teenager, before he was abandoned by his gang, arrested, and sent to work at the Pie rock farm with other crooks to be reformed."

Tomato trotted beside him. "Okay, why didn't you tell me your interesting family history earlier?"

"Come on, would you admit your father had been a criminal?"

"...point taken."

Bluejinx nickered. "Yeah... as you know, he was successfully reformed, met my mom, they fell in love, married, and then had me." He sighed and looked up to the heavens. "Yeah, his last words to me were about how excited he was to see me use magic when it came time for it to manifest. And then he said that he was going to go exercise, kissed Mom goodbye, and that was the last time I saw him. The coffin was closed at the funeral."

Tomato looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry. I know it's been years, but still... I'm really sorry about what happened to your father."

Bluejinx sighed. "I know you are. Don't forget, Mom and I moved to Manehattan soon after. I met you while I was still grieving. And I won't forget that hug you gave me once I told you. I was worried you'd ridicule me for not having a dad."

Tomato recoiled at the last sentence. "Why would I do that? I saw you were sad, thought about what Cheese does for me when I'm sad, and thought it'd be helpful. So I just did it."

"And then you bopped Squirt on the nose for laughing at us."

"I don't know why we were friends with him; he was a jerk."

"Yep." Bluejinx shook his head. "I swear, had we not broken things off with them, I'm afraid we would have become monsters with no regard for anypony's feelings. After all... they weren't sympathetic to you when Cheese ran away."

Tomato looked down at the dirt. "I know. I don't think your father would have approved of those friends of yours."

Bluejinx snorted as he turned to look at the mountains again. "He wouldn't have wanted me to become as problematic as he was. Stupid mountain, with its steep cliffs that one could easily fall off of... why do they exist?"

Tomato scratched his chin. "I've read a tale of an ancient alicorn which had ample power over the earth and great strength-greater than any earth pony. She created the mountains and valleys and canyons and other landscape things to give more diversity to the landscape, the flora, and the fauna. She disappeared a long time ago, but there are some that believe that the earth alicorn will return. Whether that's for better or for worse, I don't know."

"And where did you read this?"

"I read it in this interesting book in Princess Twilight's castle while Cheese and I were in Ponyville."

"Hmph. I still don't like mountains."

"I don't expect you to suddenly like them after what I told you. After all, when something bad happens, you tend to avoid things that remind you of that event. I don't blame you for not wanting to be near any. Again, I'm really sorry about your father-I wish I could have met him."

Bluejinx turned to him and smiled. "He would have liked you." He faced forward again, and then stopped and pointed ahead. "Aaaand, there's the Pie house! I wonder if we can convince them to attend the party."

"Heck if I know. Cheese said they're stubborn."

Bluejinx snickered and broke into a gallop. "Race ya!"

Tomato stopped in his tracks, blinked, and then started to run himself, yelling, "Blue, that's not funny!"

They sped to the house, with Bluejinx laughing all the while. Tomato, on the other hoof, wasn't so thrilled to be sprinting. While he did understand that it was better to hurry and fetch the Mayor, that didn't stop the classic side stitch quickly forming in his side. He nosed his flank, wondering if it was something he ate that was making it hurt.

Naturally, he failed to notice where he was going and smacked face first into the front door.

He fell into an ungraceful heap just as Bluejinx arrived. With a grimace, the unicorn remarked, "Ouch... uh, well... at least you won."

The door opened to reveal a purplish-gray mare, with short, silver hair and apple green eyes. Glaring and tilting her head, she looked up at Bluejinx and said, "Hey! Mr. Bluejinx, was this guy trying to break in? If he was, that's the most stupid way of going about it."

Bluejinx bit his lip. "No... he just wasn't looking where he was going, Limestone..."

Tomato shot a hoof up and announced, "Burger, I am not! I am the ultimate alicorn..."

"Where are your horn and wings, then, oh crown prince of Equestria?" Limestone replied.

"Sesame street... what does it mean...?"

From behind Limestone came another mare, this one being light gray with darker gray hair, and violet eyes accompanied by thick eyelashes. Upon looking at Tomato on the ground, she grimaced, backed up behind her sister, and whispered, "Is he all right?"

Tomato shook his head, and quickly stood up. "I'm all right, I'm all right! I ache a little, but it's nothing. I should really look where I'm going."

Bluejinx cleared his throat. "Well, anyway, we're here for the mayor."

"Good." A stocky older stallion strode out the door. He had a tan coat, gray sideburns, and gold eyes. He wore a black work hat, a white collar, and a black tie. The years were evident on his face, and his barrel and legs were solid and steady. He twirled a strand of wheat in his mouth, and he gave the ponies before him an impassive but stern gaze that was sure to cower even the biggest of ponies. Tomato blinked at the sight of the pony, and wondered if this pony was the mayor.

Soon after, a shorter and skinnier pony with a purple coat, a white sash, a monocle, and a large white mustache hopped out. "Oh, hello, boys!" He paused an looked at a confused Tomato. "Ah, so Purple Prose's nephew has made a new friend! A tall and suave city boy from the looks of it. I dare say that that's adorable!" He turned to the tan pony. "Don't you think that's adorable, Igneous?"

Tomato's gut was telling him that the shorter pony was the mayor.

Igneous rolled his eyes. "Tis fine."

The mayor clapped his hooves and turned to the door. "Ginger! Ginger! Come meet the journalist's new friend!"

Bluejinx chuckled nervously. "No, no, Mayor... he's actually an old friend from Manehattan. I've known him since I was small."

An off-white, redheaded mare came out soon after. She simply looked at Tomato, and said, "Hm. Well-dressed."

Tomato forced a grin. "Um, thanks?"

Igneous was looking at him as well. "By all accounts, I haven't seen thee before. So why does thy face seem so familiar?"

As Tomato felt his face in confusion, Limestone and her sister stared at him closely, trying to find the answer. They rubbed their chins, scanning him up and down. She swiped Tomato's glasses off, and looked into his eyes only for Tomato to swipe them back and snort at her. She growled back, and the two were caught up in a little glaring contest.

The gray one glanced at her father. "Pa, he looks like that party pony friend of Pinkie's."

Igneous slightly raised an eyebrow. "Hm, so he does. It's probably just a coincidence, Marble."

Bluejinx laughed. "Hardly! This here is Tomato Sandwich, brother of Cheese Sandwich."

The mayor gasped. "You mean that super duper party pony that worked with Igneous' daughter in the Grand Festival of Gratitude a few months ago?! You're his brother?!" He jumped forward, grabbed one of Tomato's hooves, and started kissing it. "All families of party ponies must be blessed by the Princesses herself!" Each smooch on Tomato's foreleg got harder and wetter than the last. "You must have been such a wonderful and inspiring big brother to Cheese!" He kissed the leg some more. "I thank you in behalf of Nickerlite!" He kept on kissing the leg.

Tomato glared at him. "I'm his _younger_ brother. And would you be so kind as to get off of me?!"

Igneous pried the mayor off of Tomato's foreleg. "Mr. Mayor, these two shall escort thee and Ginger back to town now."

The mayor sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, erm, right."

Limestone turned to Igneous. "They'd better hope that Roanie's gang doesn't attack them, because the Tomato fellow's legs look like bones with sleeves, and the last time I checked, Bluejinx isn't exactly a master spellcaster."

Bluejinx sighed. "My magic's at least strong enough to carry a full grown pony."

Igneous twirled the wheat in his mouth. "Hm... their return trip is risky, especially since now they have the mayor with them. Bandits and Diamond Dogs will attack anyone they perceive as weak. Perhaps it'd be prudent that a couple of us go with them and ensure a safe trip."

Tomato and Bluejinx looked at each other in alarm. The latter turned and said, "Eeyeah, some extra muscle will be nice."

Limestone spat. "Puh, sure, I'll keep an eye on these fools. I'm the only pony who could keep them from getting squashed."

Igneous sighed. "Now, Limestone, do not get caught up in pride. Thy sister is just as capable of handling those as thou art." Igneous looked at Marble, who was wide-eyed with fear at the implication of that. "Darling, I'm well aware of how strong thou art, and I trust thee to keep these ponies safe by your sister's side. Thou didst defeat Bert and Ernie, after all-gang members should be easy."

Marble stared for a moment before nodding, and then slinked up to her sister's side.

"I wish thee well, and come home safely, my daughters," Igneous said.

Limestone huffed."Let's get going already, Marble-the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get home and have supper.

"Mm-hm," Marble mumbled.

The sisters trotted to the sides of the other ponies, and they started walking the path back to town. Tomato merely glanced at them, thinking about how odd it was that Pinkie Pie had grown up with those two, plus an extra sister who wasn't home apparently. Just how did Pinkie turn out the way she did when she was born here? Then he wondered how often she visited her family.

Bluejinx had another thing on his mind. "Who's Bert and Ernie?"

Limestone curtly responded, "Diamond Dogs. They kidnapped us once."

That was when the Mayor stopped, shouted, "Hold on!", and turned around to interrupt Igneous going back inside. The tan pony groaned from the Mayor's presence, and turned to give him an annoyed look, which the mayor clearly didn't read correctly when he asked, "So, Iggy... do you like waffles?"

"No." Igneous slammed his front door.

* * *

 **I'm sorry that this took forever to come out-posting chapters on here slipped my mind while I was busy writing them on FIMfiction. Plus, I was doing a little mental rearranging to try to make the Brotherly Bonding Time an easier read for you guys (it's over seventy chaps on FIMfic). So, I divided the months into three separate stories, so you don't just read it all in one sitting.**

 **And so, we get a little family history lesson from Bluejinx. I admit, I had to resort to making him a small and shy colt that didn't get out of his house much when his family lived in Nickerlite so it didn't contradict too much with his portrayal as a 'newcomer' in _The Rock Farmer's Daughters_. I wasn't really focused on developing his backstory beyond 'Tomato's childhood friend' at the time.**

 **Hooray, we see the Pies again! As for how the heck Tomato knows of their relation to Pinkie-Cheese met them and told him about them in a letter in the epilogue of Brother Bothers.**


	12. Dirty Fighting

The group of six walked through the hills, the mayor animatedly jumping around and chattering away about random subjects. He seemed especially fond of Tomato, or rather his position of being the sibling of a party pony. Tomato wanted to remind him that Marble and Limestone's sister was a party pony, but the small stallion just wouldn't shut up. It didn't help that his voice was just so obnoxious that it grated on his nerves and made his fur bristle. Tomato wished Ginger would tell her husband to calm down and keep his mouth shut.

He glanced at Bluejinx, who had his head slouched forward and was rubbing a temple, and then to the Pie Sisters, who held half-lidded looks and exchanged eyerolls every time that the mayor said something stupid and obvious, with Limestone letting out loud groans and snapping, "Shut up!" every so often, though that was in vain. He looked at Ginger, who showed no reaction to anything. She didn't even appear to emote at any point.

Tomato suddenly found the mayor on his head, curiously holding his forelock and saying, "You know, I've never seen forelock this curled for somepony with straight hair." He yanked it further. "They're usually on those with curly-"

In response to the forelock being pulled, his mane exploded into its natural curls, launching the mayor into the air. Tomato froze as he noticed the others staring at him. He shot a glare at the giggling Marble and guffawing Limestone, who still laughed even when he made it clear that he didn't like it. In fact, they almost seemed to be teasing him.

Bluejinx caught the mayor with his magic, and put him on Ginger's back, saying, "Put a leash on him, please."

"And a muzzle," Tomato added, trying to slick his hair back.

Limestone stared at him as he tried to do so. "You never mentioned your hair was curly."

Tomato groaned. "Yes, it is. Makes it a little difficult to slick back, but I manage."

Limestone and Marble glanced at each other. Then Limestone continued, "Why do you even bother? Trying to keep it straight seems like more work than it's worth-on _my_ farm, doing nonsense with our hair wastes precious rock farming time."

After a couple dozen swipes, Tomato finally managed to slick it back to his usual style, his forelock springing up as it always did. "Well, I'm no rock farmer, I'm a business student. Ponies don't take me seriously with curly hair. Combined with this suit, it looks ridiculous, and ponies have a tendency to stare, which I don't want them to do."

Marble patted at her hair and muttered, "I personally think curly hair is beautiful... our sister pulls it off quite nicely."

Tomato sighed. "It fits her personality... not mine."

Limestone pointed at his head. "Okay, pal, explain how you slicked it back so fast-there's no way naturally curly hair can be that easily managed!"

Tomato's mane exploded again. Tomato was silent for a moment before he growled and glared at Limestone. He went to work at slicking it back again, snarling, "Don't point it out! It refuses to stay whenever it's pointed out."

The mayor clapped. "I like your hair, mister! Are you a party pony, too?"

Tomato turned to show him his cutie mark. "No."

Bluejinx whistled, looking around at the hills nervously. "Um, hey... we should get moving. We have to get to town soon, and I have the feeling that we're not alone out here."

Ginger blinked and said. "Listen to the unicorn. Roanie and Stride are at large, and there's a chance that they'll target us."

The mayor gasped and buried his face in Ginger's red mane, Marble and Limestone merely glanced at each other, and Tomato scoffed, saying, "Okay, Cheese told me that they were last seen in Dodge Junction. Quite frankly, I don't think we'll see them."

They had barely walked a few steps when the ground rumbled. Shortly after, a large Diamond Dog burst out of the ground, mounted by a smug-looking mare, sending dirt flying everywhere in their wake. She was followed by a wicked-grinning stallion doing the same. Then several others riding smaller Diamond Dogs burst out of other places in the ground, leaving holes in the landscape and sending waves of soil falling on the group. Each dog jumped out of the holes and landed before them with a tremendous slam, and then both equine and canine cackled as they laid their eyes on the shocked group before them.

The mare grinned. "Well, well, it looks like we've finally met the mayor of this pathetic town, eh, gang?"

The stallion chuckled. "And looks like he assembled the most pathetic entourage to protect him! He really is a dunce, Roanie."

The members of the group blinked, and then glared at Tomato, who sheepishly shrugged.

Roanie slid off the biggest Diamond Dog, and casually strode toward Ginger. From what Tomato could see, she was definitely a roan, with dark gray legs and face, with the rest of her body looking a lighter gray from the white intermingling with the gray. It surprised him how much she looked like Rarity, though she was an earth pony and had green eyes. She was wearing a brown, wide-brimmed hat, a brown vest, and brown boots. She was dirty from head to hoof, but she was clearly wearing the dirt proudly.

She reached Ginger and thrust out a hoof. "Name's Roanie." She tilted her head toward the mint green stallion on the other big Diamond Dog. "That's my husband, Peppermint Stride. And of course, the gang, and our new Diamond Dog friends."

Ginger swatted the hoof away. "Drop the nice act. I know what you're here for."

Roanie backed up, and scowled at her. She took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Good to know. Then I suppose you know that if you ponies do _exactly_ as I say, nopony gets hurt. After all, need I tell you about the last ponies that refused to cooperate?"

The mayor pulled his face out of his wife's mane, quaking violently. Looking up at Roanie, he sputtered, "W-W-W-What do ya want with me?"

Roanie glared at him. "Your honey figured it out before you did, you idiot. Me and Stride wanna try runnin' a town, and little ol' Nickerlite seems just right for us and our friends. After all, if a knucklehead like you is the mayor, how hard can it be?" Her eyes narrowed, and she snatched the mayor off of Ginger's back. "You best give it up, lest you and your friends meet a very messy end in these hills."

Ginger grabbed the mayor and held him close. "You're not going to hurt him, and I'm not allowing you to run our town into the ground!"

Bluejinx stomped a hoof and stepped forward. "Yeah. Who gave you the right to just demand the position of mayor when you don't even live here? I'm certainly not willing to let you outlaws just waltz in and take over."

The mayor shuddered some more. "I am!"

Tomato glared at him. "You're not helping."

Roanie shook her head slowly, clicking her tongue. "You morons seem to be forgetting something... we're stronger than you, you're outnumbered, and..." She pointed behind her. "We've got the Diamond Dogs on our side."

Bluejinx smirked. "Well... we've got Pies on our side."

Roanie blinked. "Whaddya mean 'pies'? What's pastry got to do with anything?"

Limestone and Marble glanced at each other, with a devilish smirk on the former's face and the latter donning a more serious, stony expression, and nodded at one another. It was then that they bolted forward, rolled into balls, and bowled all the Diamond Dogs over, with the ponies either getting squished under the weight of one of their mounts or flying off in random directions. The sisters sprang out of their balls, and once they landed, they turned around and pawed at the ground, snorting at their opponents.

As Roanie stared in shock, Bluejinx smugly replied, "I meant the Pie sisters there, those tough and lovely mares. They're rock farmers-you know, some of the strongest ponies in Equestria? It's a very good thing that they came along with us."

Roanie growled, and then swung around to punch Bluejinx to the ground. "Shut up, Jasper!"

Tomato jumped at the action, and without thinking, he instantly rammed her away from his friend. As he paused to help Bluejinx up, he asked, "Who's Jasper?"

Dazed, Bluejinx replied, "...the friendly ghost?"

"No, I said, 'Jasper.'"

Bluejinx shook his head. "Well, the only Jasper I knew was my dad, but there's bound to be plenty of other-"

That was when they heard a voice roar, "Nopony touches my wife!"

Tomato was suddenly tackled by Stride, and the two were rolled in a ball, bouncing along the landscape like a tumbleweed. During each bounce, Tomato could barely hear Bluejinx ordering the mayor and Ginger to get help, and Roanie shouting something at Bluejinx. As he and Stride rolled farther and farther, the latter started trying to beat him up.

Tomato's head was dodging each punch from Stride, with the fear that one of those hooves might just crush his head. He could feel one scrape his cheek, and the other nick his ear. Both wounds stung, especially when they hit the dirt, and the rocks that were scattering the ground were no help each time that they stabbed at his back. He could hear his own heart pounding in his ears, and he started praying for a way out of this mess he was in.

* * *

Meanwhile, Limestone and Marble dragged each pony and Diamond Dog away from the direction that Ginger and the mayor ran. Or rather, they stood in between them and bucked them away.

The ponies were fairly easy to knock out, since they quickly learned that both Pies were too fast to let them pass so easily. They go beyond the imaginary line that was set by the girls-they were met with a pair of gray hind hooves. What had seemed like dainty little mares before proved to be quite the obstacle, and there were hoofprints on the faces of multiple ponies.

The Diamond Dogs were harder for the Pies, however, and one large one in particular leapt over them, barking, "Ribbit!" as he did so. Once he landed, however, an angry Limestone grabbed his tail, and dragged him back to the designated fight area.

Marble grabbed a couple of Diamond Dogs, and threw them into their comrades. She looked back, watching as the mayor and his wife still ran. She saw another of the thugs run after them, and jumped toward him. She landed on his back, grabbed his neck with her hind legs, and then jumped forward, making him tumble forward onto his face. Then, Marble bucked him back to the fight area, hitting one of the larger Diamond Dogs in the face.

Limestone was still pulling the larger Diamond Dog when she was tackled back first to the ground by a couple of stallions. She let go of the dog's tail, and the dog hopped away, croaking like a frog. Her head hurting and her ears ringing, she looked up at the greedy looking stallions above her. She didn't like the smirks they sported, and she was offended that they were even looking at her like that. She snorted, and she kicked the two off of her, rolled onto her stomach, and went back to fetch the ribbiting canine.

Bluejinx was face to face with Roanie. He wasn't quite sure just what he was doing-he wasn't trained in any form of combat. He wasn't even sure if the one thing that he could use-his magic-was even particularly useful for this situation. The best he could do with it was just lift her for a short time to inconvenience her-and even then that required his entire concentration and he couldn't do anything else.

His heart pounded as he and the mare circled each other. He kept glancing at the Pie Sisters, hoping that one of them would come over and save him from this pony. He did not want to be face to face with an outlaw.

The first thing that Roanie did was pounce toward him like a cat, and Bluejinx instantly grabbed her with his magic, making her freeze in midair. She scowled at him and shook his head.

"What a coward you are," she sneered. "Fitting, considering you resemble an old friend of mine."

Bluejinx held his breath, his brow sweating. Already, he could feel himself being strained by the weight of Roanie. She was heavier than Tomato! Still, he still held on, knowing that once she was released, she was not going to have mercy.

Roanie smirked. "Yanno, it was these very hills that I last saw him. I can't help but wonder if your name is Jasper Horseshoe Jr."

A surprised Bluejinx dropped her, and promptly received a buck to the face. He was thrown back by the impact, and rolled in the dust several feet away. He laid there for a moment, feeling the skin around his eye beginning to swell. He shakily got to his hooves, wiping drool from his mouth. It was faster to mentally put the pieces together over what she had said than to regain his balance.

He saw Roanie galloping toward him for another attack, and once again he summoned his magic to make her freeze. However, this time, Roanie only smirked.

"Idiot got caught by the sheriff and farmers living around here, and was forced to work on a rock farm. Hmph, serves him right for sparing that pathetic little unicorn mare. To think he used to be so fiery and daring before getting weak in the knees."

Bluejinx tried to throw her, but his magic failed him, and he found himself thrown, landing on some rocks and receiving some bruises and cuts. Once again, as he was getting up, Roanie came his way, and he stopped her with his magic once again.

Roanie clicked her tongue. "Can't rely on your magic forever, buddy. Besides, you have that little unicorn's eyes. No doubt in my mind that you're Jasper's son. So, where's your Pa?"

Bluejinx bit his lip and looked at the mountains. That was where he was last. Where he was last before he died. That place had ensured that Jasper Horseshoe would never again see his wife or his son. The very thought left Bluejinx misty-eyed, wishing that he was still alive.

He was unsure of the consequences of an honest answer, but either way, it wasn't going to be pretty. After all, he was fighting his father's former gang. He had always wondered what they were like, but he never would have guessed it was the infamous Roanie, Stride, and their gang. He felt his magic waver, so he was going to answer quick.

He took a deep breath as his magic released her. "He's dead."

Roanie blinked, and her brow furrowed. She reared up, and then punched him, making him stumble back and land on some more rocks. She ambled toward him, her face in a snarl.

"Darn it! I wanted to kill him myself! He nearly got me and Stride caught thanks to his stupidity! Good thing it backfired..." She grabbed Bluejinx and brought him up to face level. "Still, I wanted to see him one last time before I spat in his face and threw him off a cliff! Ah, well... I guess you'll have to do... say hi to Jasper for me..."

Bluejinx glared at her, and then used his magic once again. However, he used it to lift several rocks, and chuck them at her with full force. The first rock made her drop him, and the second one made her stagger back. Bluejinx backed up as more rocks pelted her, a smirk of satisfaction on his face.

"Don't get too cocky," he said. "Especially when I can still grab other things with my magic."

Roanie roared, and threw rocks at him back. There was soon a rock-throwing war.

* * *

"This is stupid."

Cheese gave Cortland a funny look, and nudged him. "Aw, come on, Corty! Nothing wrong with acting like something silently and letting others guess what you're acting like! I mean, look at your pop!"

Cortland looked up at the center of the field, where his father, Haralson, was strutting and sticking his nose up in the air. As ponies laughed, Cortland's face turned red, and he covered it with his hat. "Like I said... this is stupid."

Cheese blew a raspberry and muttered, "Geez, you're grouchier than my brother." He turned his head to look at the hills where Tomato and Bluejinx had gone earlier. "Speaking of whom, shouldn't he and Bluejinx be back by now? I hope they didn't run into any trouble."

That was when he spotted an off white, redheaded mare, carrying a small, purple stallion with a big white mustache on her back. He heard somepony holler, "Hey, there's the mayor!" and soon enough, everypony else had leapt up, and shouted, "SURPRISE! Happy Birthday, Mayor!"

The pair had frozen in their tracks, and the mayor gasped upon seeing the party. He screamed in delight, and started running around and rambling excitedly about the wonderful party he had received. He especially screamed upon seeing the pickles, and started to munch on them happily. All the while, his wife just stared blankly at him.

The mayor gurgled, "WOWEE! I didn't expect such a great birthday present!" He galloped toward the giant punch bowl and dived in, swimming without a care. He peeked out of the bowl, spotted Cheese Sandwich squeezing out of the crowd, and waved at him. "Hoo hoo! And the Super Duper Party Pony strikes again! Equestria is blessed to have you!"

Cheese chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, shouting back, "Hehe, yeah!" He looked at the hills again, and nibbled on his hoof. The mayor and his wife were here, but without Tomato and Bluejinx. He felt an deep pit in his stomach, and he felt like he was going to explode with anxiety. He turned to Ginger.

"Say, uh, Ma'am, did you and your husband happen to pass by two stallions; a short blue, white-haired unicorn and a reddish-orange earth pony about my height but an inch shorter not counting the dark hair which should be slicked back even though it's actually curly and he wears glasses and we have the same eye color and he's dressed all stuffy and businesslike even though he should really lighten up and-"

Ginger stopped him. "Cheese Sandwich, we ran into a gang in those hills."

Cheese blinked. "A... gang?"

Ginger nodded. "A gang of about ten, lead by Roanie and Stride, and they were riding Diamond Dogs. The two stallions you sent to pick us up, as well as two of the Pies, are distracting them while we're getting help... unfortunately, my husband's a little distracted right now."

Cheese's face turned red, and he was grinding his teeth. "And you left my baby brother to fight a gang?! Four against ten ponies plus some Diamond Dogs?! They're outnumbered, even with two Pies at their side! You practically left my brother for dead out there!"

"Calm down, calm down!" Ginger was wide-eyed at Cheese snapping at her like that. "Look, I'm getting the sheriff and some of the toughest stallions in town."

Cheese glared darkly at her as he put a helmet on, and growled in a low voice, "I can take care of them myself."

* * *

Tomato never thought he'd see the day when he'd be wrestling with a smelly outlaw in the middle of nowhere.

For a guy whose first name was "Peppermint", this guy reeked. Tomato was debating just letting Stride bash his head so he didn't have to deal with the awful smell. Then again, Tomato never wanted a messy death like that, so his head just kept on dodging Stride's punches.

They somehow ended up rolling to a place where Tomato could see the Pie residence, and could feel the presence of rocks everywhere they rolled. He still couldn't get Stride off of him, they were both covered in dirt, and he still had no idea just how to get out of this situation alive. This was something that he couldn't get Cheese or Bluejinx to rescue him in time; he was on his own.

His face ended up hitting the ground, and unfortunately, he got dirt in his mouth. He spat the dirt out, and a glance told him that it had become mud from mixing with his saliva. He looked forward at the rage in Stride's eyes as another punch was thrown. Tomato turned his head, getting scraped by the hoof again, and his tongue just flopping out involuntary. He nearly spit out the dirt again, but looking at Stride's eyes gave him an idea.

As they continued to roll around, Tomato took every opportunity to get some dirt in his mouth. Turning his head to dodge a punch, finding his face forced into the ground, and his feigned attempts to escape the ball, which resulted in him being yanked by the tie back in and hitting the ground face first. He used his tail to redirect the ball into less rocky paths and to make it a little more difficult for Stride to hit him.

He swished the collected dirt in his mouth, trying hard not to cringe at the taste of mud. Still, he kept tight lips as he dodged the punches from Stride, and was gauging for the right moment to strike. His neck was hurting, so he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. As far as he knew, he only had one shot.

After a while, Stride broke the ball, and opted for the option of just lifting Tomato up by the collar so he had a cleaner shot. The scrapes on Tomato's face were not good enough for him, and he was certain that there was no escape for Tomato this way. The younger stallion's lanky limbs could not compete against the older one's muscles, and that meddlesome tail was out of the way.

"Now, hold still; I'm teaching you a lesson in not touching another pony's spouse!"

Tomato glared at him, and merely bent his neck back to dodge the punch that came after that sentence. Though his muzzle got scraped, his head sprung back into place, and in doing so, he spat out the mud right onto Stride's eyes. The bigger stallion gave a shout in surprise, and ended up dropping Tomato in order to wipe the mud out of his eyes.

Tomato smirked and pumped a hoof. "Bullseye!" Then he hopped back up onto his hooves, and sped toward the house.

He reached the house and rapidly knocked on the door, glancing back at Stride. His heart pounded as the bigger stallion had wiped the last of the mud off his face, and was blinking to remove the rest, dirty tears streaking down his face. Tomato pawed at the ground nervously, hoping that Igneous or somepony else in the house would answer before Stride could see enough to find him.

A white mare with grayish green hair opened the door. She looked up and down at the pony before her and asked, "Can I help thee?"

Tomato glanced behind him, seeing a red-eyed Stride gallop toward him. "There's this crazy outlaw trying to kill me."

She looked behind him as well, and snorted. "Of course there is." She trotted out the door and then stood in between Tomato and the approaching thug. She turned around, and once Stride was close enough, she shot out her back hooves, knocking the pony out with a single buck. Then she turned around, poked the unconscious stallion, and grunted in satisfaction. "That should do it."

It was then that Igneous came out of the door. "Cloudy, who's at the-" He spotted Tomato and grunted. "Thou hast returned quickly. What be the emergency?"

Cloudy pointed at Stride on the ground. "This fellow was bothering him."

Igneous blinked and approached the unconscious form. He took a deep whiff of him (much to Tomato's confusion), and said, "No doubt about it, this pony is Stride from that gang he leads with Roanie. I had a feeling they were around here..."

"Have you met them before?" Tomato asked.

"One of their members was caught, and worked here to be reformed with other criminals years ago, before our eldest daughter was born. Luckily, he was one of those who was successfully reformed." He grunted as he turned to the hill. "Come, Cloudy, let's check on our daughters-if they sent this fellow over here for help, that means they may be having trouble."

Cloudy nodded, and the two galloped off into the hills. Tomato stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do. He looked at Stride, and though he was certain that pony was going to be out for a while, he didn't want to stick around and find out. Plus, he was worried about his friend.

So, he took off after the couple.

* * *

Marble panted as she chased a pair of ponies and a Diamond Dog the direction away from town. Her coat was soaked with sweat, and she could hear her own heartbeat, and wondered if anypony else could hear it. Her throat stung and her lungs felt like they were going to burst. But she kept on running, not even pausing as she scooped up dirt and chucked it at the thugs. She hoped that the morons would fall into one of the holes, but much to her chagrin, they ran around them, and she unfortunately tripped into one of them.

After her face hit the dirt at the bottom, she got up, and took a moment to catch her breath. How did those bandits manage to enlist the help of those Diamond Dogs? She had a gut feeling that they bribed them.

She climbed out of the hole, and resumed her gallop. She reminded herself that she and her family had defeated Diamond Dogs before, and this was no different-aside from the bandits. Still, the fact that they kept on scattering was frustrating, and there was also the matter of how they were distracting her and Limestone from helping Bluejinx with Roanie.

The unicorn was having a bad time. He was covered in cuts, bumps, and bruises, and he had a black eye. Each effort to stop Roanie with his magic had lasted a shorter time than the last, and Roanie was breaking out of them, and aiming rocks at his horn. Bluejinx loped around her in an effort to dodge, though he wasn't fast enough to keep himself from getting hit by rocks.

At one point, a rock hit his leg, and he stumbled face first onto the ground. Gritting his teeth, he tried to get up, but he cried out and fell once again. Bluejinx looked up at the evil smirk Roanie sported as she trotted toward him.

Marble wanted to help him, but unfortunately, a couple of Diamond Dogs had grabbed her by the tail and were pulling her away. She protested and dragged them forward, reminding them that they couldn't move her that easily. And then they were reminded of her sister when they were rammed away by Limestone.

"Grrr, I wish I was as strong as Maud!" Limestone complained.

Marble sighed. "So much for your pride. I wish she was here..." She looked at Bluejinx once again. "Come on, we need to help him!"

Limestone sighed. "Why did he think he could take on a bandit as notorious as her? The lunatic."

"We'll ask that later, let's go!"

They had barely sprinted forward when they were grabbed by the big ribbiter and his equally large partner, being ridden by two of the outlaws. The two ponies cackled at them.

"Good going, Hank and Goliath!" one hooted. "You dogs seriously have a problem with these ponies? You two big ones just need to grab 'em and your buddies'll take care of the rest!"

Limestone growled at them. "You better let us go, bub! Don't make me break your arm!"

Marble snorted. "Do we need to remind you what happened to Bert and Ernie?"

Hank and Goliath looked at each other nervously, and tightened their grip on the sisters. The ponies just laughed, and one of them hollered, "I sure hope you're joking just to scare us! Because seriously, how could two pretty little ponies like you deal with big dogs like these?"

That was when a furious Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz came speeding in, and before anypony knew it, they had rammed the two Diamond Dogs in the gut, knocking them over and making them drop their daughters. They bounced on back, catching their daughters and then giving them a brief hug of relief before setting them down.

"Good heavens, how did this mess come about?" Cloudy said. "I'm just glad you're unharmed."

"I know we raised you girls well in defending yourselves, but being outnumbered like that could have made serious wounds far more likely," Igneous said.

"We're fine," Marble said. She pointed to where Bluejinx was. "But we can't say the same for Blue-"

"Hey, wait, what's Potato doing with Roanie?" Limestone interrupted.

Igneous turned, and discovered that Tomato had hopped onto Roanie and was pulling on her neck to force her away from Bluejinx. With a gasp, he shouted, "What do you think you're doing?! Roanie's more dangerous, thou fool!"

Tomato didn't listen. Anger had overtaken any fear that he had, and to see this criminal laying down a beating on his most faithful friend had made any self-control evaporate, and that same old colthood impulsiveness had arisen within him. He knew he couldn't win a fight against her-but that doesn't mean he couldn't distract her any way he could. He started to consider doing his mud-spitting trick like he did with Stride.

Unfortunately, Roanie grabbed him, threw him over her head, and slammed him into the ground. She pinned him down, and snarled in his face.

"You think a noodle like you can wrestle me?" She reared up one hoof. "I bet I could bash your head in with one punch!"

Before she could strike, however, a great _BOOM_ sounded, and she was blown away by what seem to be a giant, flying pie. Tomato blinked at the sudden and seemingly random thing that saved him, but from the corner of his eye, he spotted a colorful tank. The pieces came together in his head, especially when the pony that sat on top of the tank slid off and landed in the dirt.

Cheese Sandwich held a solemn glare as he marched over to Tomato, picked him up, and dusted him off. Then, he continued on to the splattered remains of his giant cream pie, with a dazed and messy mare sitting in the middle of it. He stopped short of the pie, and held his stony look.

Roanie looked up and groaned. "Great, another noodle? Just who do you think you are, blasting a pie at-"

"No. Who do you think you are?" Cheese chided in a gruff voice. "I've heard of you and your gang-robbing ponies, beating them, leaving them for dead... I do not understand in any way how that could be fun. And I'm a party pony-I practically live and breathe fun! What kind of sick pony gets their kick out of making others miserable?"

"Aw, who are you to judge, you son of a donkey?"

Cheese shook his head. "Using slurs like that is low. If you're miserable, there's no need to bring others down with you. I was miserable once, but I dedicated my life to making others happy. It's a heck of a good medicine, don't you know?" He narrowed his eyes. "But, if you're perfectly happy with just making ponies suffer, not caring how much they hurt, whether from their injuries, or suffering from trauma, or losing precious memories, or being unable to pay their bills... then I don't understand you. If there's anything Equestria doesn't need, it's criminals who make the lives of nearly everypony that much harder!"

He snorted and turned around. "I suggest finding a different way to use your special talent that's a lot more worthwhile and a lot less destructive. Everypony's lives will be better off that way... including yours. In the meantime... prepare for a comfortable time in prison." He looked back. "And lastly... nopony harms a single hair on my baby brother."

He marched away, glancing at the other thugs and Diamond Dogs, who were just staring at his party tank. Normally, he'd be concerned if ponies were scared; but this time, he was perfectly content with it if it meant that they wouldn't hurt anypony else while the thing was still around. He looked at the Pies, and almost immediately his coldness snapped into a sunshiney demeanor as he waved at them and holler, "Howdy, Iggy, Cloudy, Limey, and Marble! Beautiful day for a party, isn't it?"

Igneous sighed and shook his head. "I don't understand that colt. I do understand why Pinkie considers him a friend, though."

"Birds of a feather," Cloudy mumbled.

Cheese walked to Tomato, who was trying to help Bluejinx up. "Oh, man, ouch... you don't look so good."

Bluejinx glared at him. "I don't feel so good, either..." He looked at Tomato. "How come Stride didn't pummel you badly?"

Tomato rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh... spat mud in his face." He noticed the other two staring at him, and said, "I'll tell you later."

Cheese nodded, and then looked beyond the party tank. "Don't worry, guys, we've got some backup on the way, and this gang will finally be behind bars. Now, to get Blue here some medical attention..."


	13. Lost Relatives

_Tomato trotted through the front door, humming a whimsical little tune. He opened his eyes before him and saw no one in the living room, so he took a deep breath and shouted, "I'm home!"_

 _He had just come home from a fun day at his friend Bluejinx's house, which involving playing dodgeball in the attic and listening to Bluejinx's grandma's old polka records. He recalled how excited he had been when he recognized the sound of an accordion and shouted, "My brother plays that thing!" It had only been him and 'Jinx at the house, since none of his other friends were invited, but he had sworn that he was going to show them just how great his big brother Cheese was, and hopefully help him not be so shy._

 _He didn't quite get why everypony didn't like Cheese. He didn't like hurting ponies, and says sorry and gives a hug whenever he hurt Tommy-usually by mistake. He was super nice and lots of fun! Oh, if only they could see that. But, Tomato felt like he was surrounded by dummies who didn't even bother to remember Cheese's name._

 _After there was no answer, he walked into the kitchen, wondering if Mom had finally put something good in the fridge. He found his father, Hay Burger, sitting at the table, doing his grownup homework like he always did._

 _Tomato hopped up on a stool and hollered, "Hi, Dad!"_

 _The shout startled Hay so much he threw his papers into the air as he whinnied. The cinnamon-coated stallion had his front knees up to his chin, and watched the papers float down, gazing at them in some sort of deep trance and not attempting to catch them. It was almost like he was expecting the papers to come to life and attack him. He muttered something under his breath, and didn't even bother to look at the colt at the table with him._

 _Tomato could see his father's chest rising and falling, and remarked, "Hey, cool, I can see you breathe!"_

 _That was when a glare was shot his way. Hay sighed and asked, "What do you want?"_

 _Tomato gently brushed a hoof against the table. "Where's Mom and Cheese?"_

 _Hay slid off the stool and started to pick up his papers. "Uh... what did she say... um... something about her parents... oh, right, hospital."_

 _Tomato blinked. "Who's sick?"_

 _Hay looked up. "Grandma and Grandpa."_

 _Tomato gasped. "Oh no! I hope they get better!" He frowned. "Why does Cheese get to go see them? Won't he get sick?"_

 _Hay Burger managed to gather all his papers and set them on the table. "He won't catch what they've got. Besides, he got to go because he was here and you weren't. You missed the opportunity, kid."_

 _Tomato laid his head on the table. "Can I go see them, Daddy?"_

 _"I'm busy. You can go later."_

 _Tomato banged on the table. "But I wanna see them now! I wanna give 'em medicine!"_

 _Hay groaned. "The hospital has medicine. Now, be quiet, I can't concentrate on my paperwork when you're screaming."_

 _Tomato stuck his tongue out. "Why do you have grownup homework all the time? Can't you be a fun dad like my friends' dads? Can't we be buddies like Bluejinx was like with his Dad before he was dead? Why are you always busy?"_

 _Hay looked up at him with a glare. "You can't have everything you want. Now, pipe down! You're giving me a headache!"_

 _"But, Daaaad... don't you hate homework? I hate homework, Cheese hates homework, my friends hate homework..."_

 _"Puh, there's something I hate more than homework."_

 _"What's that?"_

 _Hay snorted. "It's none of your business. Go to bed."_

 _Tomato pouted. "But I'm not tired..."_

 _"Just go to bed."_

 _"It's not even dark yet!"_

 _"I don't care, go to bed. I need to work."_

 _"Why don't you play for once?"_

 _Hay Burger stood up and shoved his face uncomfortably close. "Go. To. Bed. And if you don't listen, I'll be forced to spank you for disobeying."_

 _All the color drained from Tomato's face, and he quickly hopped off the stool, running to his room. As he left, he heard his father grumble, "Ah, now my headache will subside. How in Equestria does that kid have good grades in school? At least Cheese is quiet..."_

* * *

Tomato had slipped away from the birthday party to check up on Bluejinx. The walk from the field to the print shop gave him an opportunity to just think about what had transpired earlier. He wanted to pat himself on the back for one-upping Stride by mixing up some mud in his mouth and spitting it in his face; at the same time, he wanted to kick himself for failing to be there for his friend.

It also terrified him to know that they could have been killed by their encounter. Perhaps it had been better that Tomato had been wrestled all the way back to the Pie Farm, given that Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz were the toughest older couple that he had ever met. And the mayor and Ginger did manage to get Cheese running over there with his good old party tank.

Tomato sighed. He wondered just how protective Cheese was going to be after this. Tomato didn't even let him know where he was going, so he was prepared for a little chewing out from his big bro.

He found the print shop and knocked. He entered it once he was invited in by Bluejinx's aunt, and then made his way up the stairs. He hoped that he wasn't going to be too intrusive with his visit.

He found the door, and knocked. He heard Bluejinx answer, "Who is it?"

Tomato replied, "It's your friend Tomato."

A laugh was heard and Bluejinx said, "Come on in, buddy."

Tomato opened the door and walked in. The room was simple, with just a desk with a lot of papers and a lamp on it, a dresser, and a bed. He stopped and stared at Bluejinx lying on the bed.

He was wrapped up in bandages, though thankfully not enough to look like a mummy. The gauze was wrapped around his head carefully, keeping the thankfully intact horn in mind. He was patched up on his chest and legs, and he had a cast in his right foreleg. His left eye was swollen and purple. The unicorn held a book in his magic, which was a small relief. As banged up as Bluejinx looked, Tomato knew it could have been worse.

"So, how are you?" Tomato asked.

Bluejinx gave him a wry smile. "Still sore, but I'll live."

"Ah, I see. Whatcha reading?"

"The Count of Pony Cresto."

"Gotcha." Tomato pulled the chair from Bluejinx's desk with his tail, and sat on it. "Is there anything I could do for you?"

Bluejinx waved a hoof in dismissal. "Aunt Purple's got everything taken care of. I'll be fine."

"Suit yourself," Tomato said, shrugging. Tomato thought for a moment, tapping his chin, and then something popped into his mind. "Say, Bluejinx, I wonder why Roanie called you 'Jasper'."

To his surprise, Bluejinx responded by tossing the book at him, which bonked him on the nose. In response, Tomato yelped, covered his throbbing nose, and snapped, "What was that for?!"

Bluejinx now glared at him, crossing his front legs. "Would you like to know why she singled me out?"

"Because you pretty much took her challenge of four vs. twenty?"

"Nope. Would you believe it, she figured out I'm the son of a former member of her gang!" Bluejinx laughed derisively. "Jasper Horseshoe, the outlaw that was captured and set straight! She thought it'd be fun to kill me in place of my already dead dad! I even look like him!"

Tomato blinked. "Okay... ouch."

Bluejinx snorted. "The way she was talking to me, I wouldn't be surprised if she had been spying on our family, and had pushed my dad off a cliff on that stupid mountain. I swear, I don't get why Flora likes those landforms so much..."

"She says they're home. After all, she's mentioned that Neighton has mountains nearby..." Tomato said, scratching his chin. He wondered if it'd be easier to single out the Neighton where she lived with that information in mind. He shook his head. "But that's beside the point. Roanie had absolutely no right to do that to you. I hope Cheese's words got through her skull."

Bluejinx sighed and rubbed his cast. "She just reminded me of how much I miss Dad."

A bit of envy arose within Tomato, much to his chagrin. It didn't feel right to be jealous of a pony bereaved of a parent, but considering that Bluejinx had nothing but good memories of his father, Tomato still resented his own memories of either being ignored or shooed away by his own. Sometimes he had wondered what the point of a father was.

Tomato picked up the book, and set it back on the bed. "If you'd like to keep reading... here."

Bluejinx took the book in his magic, and opened it back up to read, muttering, "Thanks." With a glance, he added, "If you don't mind... I'd like to be alone. Just go and enjoy the party."

Tomato stood up, and nodded. So he turned and walked out the door, gently shutting it behind him with his tail.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the stage near the dancing area, Cheese bounced off the ball in a backflip, and landed on his hind hooves as he played the final notes of his accordion solo. His pride swelled as the crowd cheered, and he bowed. He set his accordion down and clapped along with the crowd, his laughter ringing out over them. He grabbed the microphone in front of him and cleared his throat.

"All righty then, ponies! I'm overjoyed that you enjoyed that solo." He adjusted the hat and bowtie he was wearing. "Now, our next act is that of the piano colt from the saloon. I don't know how often you ponies visit the saloon, but the owner told me he's got quite the way with those keys and a nice voice. So, without further ado, let me introduce Merry Keys!"

Cheese turned to smile at the colt, who smiled back, and then began to play. As the crowd went quiet, Cheese jumped off the stage and trotted to where Igneous and Cloudy sat, eating a pretzel and a bag of rock candy respectively.

"You folks having fun?" he asked, grinning.

Igneous grunted. "Well, this thing is... interesting. I can see why thou and my daughter fought over one of these events."

Cheese blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was, uh, just trying to impress her... but I just, uh, sent the wrong message, y'know?"

Igneous and Cloudy glanced at each other. Then Cloudy said, "Impressing her? For what reason?"

Cheese's face went redder and he fanned himself. "Well, I, uh-look, I saw her when I was a colt and got inspired to be a party pony. I-It was my way of saying thank you... gone wrong... then gone right..."

"Thou should have thought things through," Igneous stated.

Cheese brushed his hoof on the ground. "Eeyeah. At least Pinkie and I are friends now."

That was when Tomato came trotting in, and sat down. He glanced at the stage, and said, "Huh, that guy's got talent. Sounds like my favorite musician."

Cheese plopped down beside him and gave him a funny look. "And where were you?"

"Visiting Bluejinx. Wanted to see how he's doing." Tomato looked at the rock farmer couple. "I never took them for the party type."

Cloudy munched on another piece of rock candy. "We will enjoy one on occasion, courtesy of Pinkamena. But we're only here to wait until Marble and Limestone are done with their merriment. In the meantime, Igneous has his pretzel and I have my rock candy."

Cheese stood up, pulling Tomato up with him. "Well, as long as you're enjoying yourselves that way." He turned to Tomato. "Let's go find something to do! Heh, I wish we could have brought Seddie with us-I'm sure she would have really liked this party! Shame that she was so shy. Even Marble's having fun."

Igneous had been taking a bite out of his pretzel when his eyes popped open in shock. The piece went down his throat with a sudden swallow, and it travelled down painfully, threatening to choke him. He knocked on his chest, and took a deep breath. He groaned, and as the Sandwich brothers began to walk away, he stood up and hollered, "Hold on!"

He marched right up to a surprised Cheese and Tomato, who had turned to him. "Who is this 'Seddie' that you speak of?"

Cheese blinked. "Oh, there's this mare who lives in the woods between here and Ponyville, takes care of lost hikers, and wrestles Bighoof on a daily basis-"

"Yes, Bighoof exists, don't question it," Tomato said.

Cheese gave Tomato a funny look for a brief moment, then continued, "Anyway, 'Seddie' is just short for 'Sedimentary Rock.' Say, Igneous, why are you interested?"

Igneous blinked, and then his brow furrowed. "That's my sister."

Cheese jumped. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You were the brother that she was talking about?!" He grabbed Tomato and shook him. "Tommy! We found Pinkie's long lost aunt! Do you know how overjoyed she'd be to find out she had a long lost aunt?!"

Igneous gave them an impassive look. "I have already told her and her sisters about Aunt Seddie... but, yes, she'd be overjoyed. Only thing is how Seddie would react to seeing me after thirty years..." He huffed. "It would have been nice to receive a letter from her so I wouldn't think she's dead."

"Wouldn't think who's dead, Pa?" Limestone asked, with Marble securely clinging onto her and nibbling on cotton candy.

Igneous opened his mouth to answer, but Cloudy came behind and said, "Believe it or not, these boys ran into your Aunt Sedimentary."

"Whoa, really?" Limestone gasped. She looked at Cheese. "You can't be serious! How did-wait... did that Cheesy Sense thing of yours track her down, or does your brother have superpowers of his own?"

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "No, Bighoof chased us up a tree and Seddie saved us."

"Psht, there's no such thing as Bighoof."

"You'd be surprised."

Marble glanced at her sister. "But, Limey! Our Aunt Seddie!"

"I know, I know, Marble!" She sighed, looking upward in a reverie. "What news... I'd love to meet her. She left before Ma and Pa got married. How will Maud and Pinkie take it when they hear the news?" She narrowed her eyes at Cheese. "You better not be lying to us in some kind of cruel prank!"

Cheese backed up. "Why would I do that?"

Igneous cleared his throat. "Settle down. First I'll find her in that forest and confirm Cheese's claim, and if she's truly there, I'll smooth things out with her. Then we can have our family reunion. I just hope she's not afraid to see me... but, for now, I assume you girls are done with your activities?"

Marble and Limestone nodded, with the latter grumbling, "She wouldn't let go of me."

Cloudy walked forward, and told them, "Well, let's go home. I'm tired, and it's getting dark. Hopefully the rocks are ripe enough for harvesting tomorrow."

"Yes, Ma," the girls said.

As the mares all left, Igneous turned to the Sandwiches, tipped his hat, and said with a small smile, "If Pinkamena trusts thee, I do as well. I am grateful that you boys have found my sister." And with that, he trotted after his wife and daughters.

Cheese waved goodbye, grinning. Then he turned to Tomato, nudged him, and said, "Pretty cool that we found Pinkie's long-lost aunt, eh?"

"Strangest coincidence of my life so far," Tomato remarked.

"Imagine if we found Aunt Honeydew!"

Tomato sighed. "Cheese, if you haven't found her in the past decade, how do you expect to find her this summer?"

Cheese waved a hoof in dismissal. "Oh, I have a hunch we'll find out where she went." His face fell into a frown. "I have a feeling that her reunion with Mom wouldn't go as well as I'm sure Igneous and Seddie's will."

"Mom's bossy, what do you expect?" Tomato sighed. "And Dad's not much better... I don't think he liked us all that much. Hmph, well, why didn't he just leave?"

Cheese shrugged. Then he grabbed Tomato with one of his front legs and drew him close. "Enough of the depressing stuff-let's enjoy the rest of this party while we can!"

Cheese ran back into the fray with his brother in tow.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Aaaand we wrap up the Nickerlite arc! What is the next adventure that awaits the Sandwiches...?**


	14. Another Town, Another Party

After spending the night in Nickerlite, Cheese got a signal to go to some town on Equestria's east coast named Halterside. He had never heard of the place before, and he wasn't sure that very many ponies did either. But, he had been to plenty of towns that nopony really knew about, and those were some of the easier parties he had thrown.

But the Cheesy Sense also told him that the party that was being planned was in a couple of days. Since it was going to take too long to get there by hoof, he and Tomato had to take the train. So, they said goodbye to the Nickerlite residents, and boarded the train to Halterside.

The train chugged along through the grasslands, the hills, and the mountains, passing by towns and cities at high speed. Outside the windows, passengers could see brief glimpses of everyday life of not only other ponies, but various other creatures as well. Many shades of green zoomed past under the cool twilight sky, dotted with fluffy clouds. Cheese heard the other passengers murmur about what shapes they could see in the clouds. He heard "sheep", "dragon", "flowers", "a laughing face", and many others.

Looking outside up in the sky, he could see an entirely different shape from the others-except for the laughing face. The face, however, was attached to the body of a rearing pony. The head and rear were adorned with a fluffy mane and tail, and the muzzle resembled that of a mare. He could barely make out the cutie mark, and in his head, her sweet voice rang loud and clear in a bell-like melody. Staring at the cloud, he sighed happily. He glanced at Tomato, wanting to ask him what shape he saw in the clouds, but he frowned upon seeing him with his nose in a book.

He inwardly groaned. He tilted his head to see what Tomato was reading, finding that it was that copy of "The Count of Pony Cresto" that Bluejinx lent him. He didn't quite know what was so exciting about some count, but then, who was he to judge a book by its cover?

He pursed his lips, and put a hoof to his chin in thought. A long time ago, Tomato was the little energetic runt that barely had any time for reading, and was more into loud and active play. With that in mind, he wondered how he ended up becoming such a bookworm. Though if he had to guess, he was probably nagged into it.

He turned back to the window, and whined when he found that the cloud's head had floated away.

That caught Tomato's attention. "What?"

Cheese pointed out the window, pouting. "Pinkie lost her head."

Tomato leaned to the window to see what he was talking about. With a bored expression, he said, "That cloud looks unremarkable."

Cheese crossed his forelegs. "It looked like Pinkie five minutes ago. And now it looks like the headless horse."

Tomato straight back up, and turned the page of his book. "I don't see it. You've lost your mind."

Cheese sighed and got back to looking out the window. "Gee, lacking imagination, aren't you?"

"Hey, I get pictures in my head when I read-that requires at least some imagination."

Cheese snickered. "I still have more. Now, who was the one who came up with the cowspies? Or Dr. Sauerkraut? Oooor, who's the one who plans the parties? Like I've said, I never plan them by the book, and this next town's going to be in for a nice surprise once we arrive."

Tomato rolled his eyes and focused on the book. "Brag of your creativity all you want. Pray that I don't have to fill in for you at some point."

* * *

The pair stepped off the train, and took a deep whiff of the morning air. The smell of the sea air was much more pleasant than that of Manehattan, though it helped that Halterside was clearly one of those small towns that was well-kept and clean. Houses of various shapes and sizes were lining the cobblestone streets, and smiling ponies were trotting the streets and chatting with neighbors.

"'Kay, we're here..." Tomato said. "Now what?"

"We locate the party site, and then just go from there," Cheese answered.

"...great."

The two trotted on forward. As they made their way down the street, several ponies turned and curiously gazed at the two ponies in cowpony getup. Tomato could hear a few snickering, and some foals were loudly asking about the two strange ponies. Tomato huddled close to Cheese, the stares from the townsponies seemingly mocking him. He glanced at Cheese, who was clearly ignoring the stares and more focused on finding the party site, and wondered how he could stand having all those eyes on him.

 _Strange to think that this is the pony who used to be painfully shy,_ he thought. _How did he overcome that?_

Suddenly, he tripped on a rock, and would have fallen face first on the street had Cheese not noticed and grabbed the serape just before Tomato's muzzle even touched one of the rocks. Cheese straightened him back up, patted his head, and continued walking. Tomato blinked, looked around at some giggling mares, and then sheepishly shuffled back to Cheese's side.

"Geez, do they really need to stare? They're giving me the creeps," Tomato grumbled.

Cheese chuckled. "It comes with wearing the costumes, baby bro. At least... if they're not distracted by something weirder."

"Like an alligator crawling out of the sewer?"

"Something like that."

That was when Cheese froze and blinked. He lifted a hoof and muttered, "Hold on..." Pursing his lips, he held still right in the middle of the street, twitching his ears as if he was receiving some kind of signal. Tomato and the onlookers gaped confusedly as he held a scrunchy face, and he seemed completely oblivious to Tomato waving his hoof in front of his face.

Suddenly, he jumped and he landed on his four hooves and pointed forward with his muzzle. "Fellow party pony at 12:00!" He turned to Tomato. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I can sense other party ponies."

Tomato raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't do this with Pinkie, because...?"

"At this point, I'm subconsciously drawn to her, like, it just happens without me noticing sometimes and-hey, wipe that smirk off your face, it's not like that!"

Tomato snickered. "I thought you liked smiles..."

Cheese pouted. "Not those kind." He turned around and started to head in the direction he pointed earlier. "Come on, we're going to find this fellow party pony so that this party can evolve from good to great! Because party pony collabs are a lot of fun!"

Tomato followed. "Ah, so how many have you done..." As Cheese opened his mouth to answer, Tomato added, "... _without_ Pinkie?"

Cheese growled, and then sighed. "None... well, actually, I've worked with the great Ponyacci once, but that was a long time ago, when I was a colt and still learning the ropes. But... with Pinkie I've done quite a few." He stopped right there, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he glanced at the smug Tomato awaiting elaboration. He gulped, and then started to gallop. "Let's just find that party pony! Maybe he or she needs our help!"

Tomato blinked, and then sped off after him. "Cheese, wait up!"

* * *

"Goldie, be careful!"

The cream-coated, freckled mare looked down at her silver-coated brother from the roof of town hall. She rolled her eyes as she tied the water balloon to the streamer, and carefully placed it on the eaves. "Shilly, you're getting worked up again. Look, bro, I know what I'm doing."

Silver Shill sat on his haunches and tapped his hooves together. "You know the doctor said you shouldn't strain yourself. Are you sure you haven't bitten off more than you can chew with setting up Halterside Town Day?"

Comedy Gold tied another water balloon to another streamer. "Nope! I'm just ensuring that I don't get rusty!" She patted the balloon. "That oughta do it... hoo boy, I can't wait until these start falling and hitting ponies. Perfect for cooling off in the heat!"

She looked up the street, and saw a couple of lanky stallions galloping toward them. Focusing her eyes and adjusting her glasses, she called out, "Look, Shilly, we've got strangers in town!"

Silver Shill blinked and turned around just as the two stallions skidded to a stop in front of him, startling him and making him stumble backwards into a tripwire. The wire set off one of Comedy Gold's balloon streamers, and a water balloon landed and exploded on his head, leaving him a soaking wet stallion. He looked up and pouted at his sister.

Goldie giggled. "Thanks for testing my water balloon streamer attack! And don't pout, that's how you got that underbite." She grabbed the streamer and pulled it back up to tie another water balloon on it.

Silver Shill sighed, and turned to the two noticably taller stallions in front of him. "Can I help you two?"

The lighter orange one stepped forward, and said in a gruff voice, "I got word that there's a party in this here town."

Silver rubbed the back of his head. "Well, uh... yeah, it's Halterside Town Day. My sister up there is still setting things up, so you might have to wait a bit before the carnival begins, sorry."

The stranger chuckled. "Oh, I'm not here just to have fun at a party..."

Silver blinked. "You aren't?"

The stranger threw off his cowpony attire, revealing a yellow polo shirt and a curly brown mane. "Nope! I'm here to help set things up!" He shot out a hoof and shook Silver Shill's vigorously. "The name's Cheese Sandwich, the premier party planner in all of Equestria!" Cheese gestured to the reddish stallion. "This guy's my brother, Tomato. He's here because I'm spending some quality time with my baby bro."

Tomato rolled his eyes, and slipped out of his serape and hat, revealing more businesslike attire. "It's been an interesting summer so far."

Cheese let go of Silver Shill's hoof, and the shorter stallion blinked before he smiled. "A party planner, eh?" Then he called up to Goldie, "Hey! This guy's here to help! You don't have to do this entire thing by yourself!"

Goldie leaned from her spot on the roof and scowled. "I heard. And frankly, I don't appreciate it. Because, really, why do you keep insisting that I can't set up the carnival by myself, Shilly? Let's not forget I earned my cutie mark saving the school carnival, and if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have earned yours!"

Silver rubbed his temples. "Goldie, we've been through this. It's not that I don't think that you're not capable, it's just you're still recovering from surgery, and I'm worried about you straining yourself too hard. Please just let our visitors here help... in fact, I think I read about this Cheese Sandwich in the newspaper once... he must know what he's doing..."

Goldie huffed. "Why doesn't he strike a bigger town like Baltimare, instead of stepping on my turf?"

Cheese shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Sorry, Miss, but my Cheesy Sense pulled me here, and I can't leave until an epic party has been planned."

Goldie glared daggers at him, and then jumped off the roof of the town hall. She then took off the pink polka-dotted and teal cloak she wore and used it as a parachute. Her barrel was wrapped up in bandages. She drifted down gently and landed gracefully on the path, her strawberry-blonde curls bouncing under the bandanna matching her cloak. Even so, there was clearly a pain-filled wince on her face.

As she tied her cloak back on, she said, "I'll have you know, Mr. Cheese Sandwich, that despite my brother trying to baby me, that I've been setting up celebrations since I was a little filly. Heck, I'm pretty much famous in this town for beating the official town event planners time and time again."

Silver Shill gave her half-lidded eyes. "You got in trouble."

"Ah, but the mayor has trusted me to plan this year's party, no? Not some outsider waltzing into town dressed like a cowpony!"

That was when an older, cobalt blue mare trotted out of the doors of town hall, then stopped at the sight of the other ponies with Silver Shill and Comedy Gold. Blinking, she asked, "Hello, Comedy Gold, I assume that the preparations are going as planned?"

"Uh, yes, Mayor Azure! Oh, wait a minute!" She pulled a bridge from behind her back, which would have hit the stallions had they not ducked. She set it over the stairs and where some tripwires crossed. When she finished positioning it, she called out, "Okay, cross! I don't want you setting the tripwires off before the celebration starts!"

A puzzled Mayor Azure crossed the bridge, asking, "Tripwires...?"

When she finished crossing, she turned around, and looked up and down the building, spotting the shine of some of the tripwires, and the streamers and balloons. She sighed. "Why did you set this up?"

"It's gonna be hot today! Nothing like water balloons for a nice cooldown!" Goldie answered. "I was going to put them on every building, just so you know."

Mayor Azure looked around, and noticed the barebones plaza. "Miss Gold, you're usually faster than this! What is the reason that the carnival's not all set up?"

Silver Shill stepped forward. "She's still recovering from her surgery, so she's not up to par."

The mayor looked at him with a sour expression. "And why didn't you inform me of this earlier?"

"You girls kept interrupting me!"

Mayor Azure sighed. "Miss Gold, if we want this carnival set up by nine o'clock, we can't go by your usual method of... whatever magic it is that helps you set this all up by yourself and yet still have energy to keep on entertaining the ponies. You'll have to have assistance from other ponies besides your brother. In fact, I see he's already got a couple others along for the ride."

Her eyes bugged out at the sight of Cheese. "Silver Shill, how did you get that pony here? Isn't he _the_ Super Duper Party Pony?"

Cheese chuckled. "Well, actually, my Cheesy Sense told me to come here. Normally, towns with party ponies of their own don't need me, but if it's a big celebration, or a party _for_ the party pony-or in this case, the local party pony not up to par-then I'll be there!"

Mayor Azure clapped. "Oh, good! You'll be plenty of assistance, Mr. Sandwich." She looked at Tomato. "As well as that red guy with you... pray tell, what is your name?"

"Tomato Sandwich."

Cheese pulled him close and grinned. "He's my baby brother."

Ignoring Tomato's scowl, the Mayor chuckled and said, "Well, Tomato, you must be really lucky to have such a wonderful older brother. I can't imagine the swell birthday parties he has thrown for you every year! Hm, I wish my brother was as good as yours."

Tomato sighed. "Yeah, brother of the century."

Goldie groaned. "Mayor, I don't need any help! I can set this entire thing up on my own, I've done it before!"

Silver put a hoof on Goldie's shoulder. "You need to slow down and take it easy, and just do the small things that don't require too much effort. I don't want you getting hurt."

She snorted. "Will you quit babying me?"

"I'm not babying you..." Silver tapped his chin. "Did you remember your pain medication?"

Goldie groaned, and she stormed away, presumably to fetch the medication she left at home. The others stared as she trotted off, and then looked at Silver Shill.

He sighed, and said, "Sorry about how she's acting, especially towards you, Cheese. She's the baby of our family, and well, she's always trying to assert her independence. I just wish she'd let go of the stubbornness while she's still in recovery-it worries me."

Cheese sighed. "Yeah, younger siblings tend to worry you sometimes-Tommy here used to get into some crazy situations that I had to rescue him from."

"Don't remind me," Tomato said.

Cheese clapped. "Anyway... where shall we start?"

* * *

 **A/N: And thus, we move on to the next town! And it's another I completely made up that I call "Halterside", being the hometown of a character that no one really cares for... besides me for some reason. I don't know why I like Silver Shill...**

 **Also, stubborn little party pony sister is stubborn. Goldie, listen to your brother.**


	15. The Circus Train

"That giant chocolate fountain's making me hungry... no, wait, I forgot to eat breakfast... but, still, that fountain doesn't help!"

Tomato quirked an eyebrow when Silver Shill said that. The shorter stallion was practically drooling over the tall, mountain-like structure pouring waterfalls of chocolate into a pool that Cheese set up in the town square. The smell wafted toward his nose, and Tomato himself was feeling a little peckish.

He attempted to distract himself from it by gazing at the seashell-themed decor that Goldie had been setting up along with the water balloon traps. The shells hung from wires that she had used her party shotgun to attach to multiple buildings and the mini roller coaster that Cheese had set up. It was the few things that she could do at her relatively slow pace, and though Silver still fussed over her involvement in setting up the carnival, she still did all she could, unwilling to just sit by while Cheese Sandwich was on her turf.

All around them, the roller coaster went around the perimeter of the plaza, it's hills dipping to splash into pools and arching high enough to be entrances into the decorated town square. A mini pirate ship that served pizza and had singing and musical instrument playing animals to entertain the foals was next to the town hall. The classic hippo ride (Tomato couldn't figure out just where Cheese kept the hippo between parties), a tarp where a little food fight involving pies, jello, and balls of ice cream would be held, and a roller skating rink were also dotted in the square, as were many other activities. The table of food items that could be dipped in either the chocolate fountain in front of Tomato and Silver Shill or the cheese fondue fountain next to it was not too far away. And lastly, stereos were strategically placed so that the music could be heard all around them.

Tomato could only imagine the fun that the townsfolk would have once things got going. Already he could see mare, stallion, and foal alike running around, prancing around the streets and laughing at some of the antics Cheese did. Still, he couldn't help but wonder just how much this party would cost if it wasn't for Cheese having those strange powers of his. The roller coaster alone would have cost a lot-more than he was sure any small town budget would allow.

"I'm tempted to just dunk my head in there and just eat it all up, " Silver snickered, still gazing at the chocolate fountain.

Tomato was jarred out of his thoughts by that statement. "Okay, two reasons why you shouldn't do that: one, you'll get chocolate in your hair, and two, you'll get your hair in the chocolate."

Silver sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Curse me and my forgetting to eat breakfast!"

That was when Goldie casually walked by and just stuck a piece of buttered toast in Silver's mouth, saying "There you go," and continuing her walk towards some other attraction.

Silver blinked, stared at the toast for a few seconds, and then just gobbled it up. Then he called out to her, "Thanks!"

He turned to Tomato and smiled. "I gotta admit, it's fun having her as a sister. I never know what kind of surprises come out of her next... good or bad..."

Tomato nodded. "I can imagine your experience is similar to mine, given my brother is pretty weird for a career."

Silver looked around. "I can see that. Hm, only thing that's predictable about Goldie is that she's stubborn."

"Thing that is predictable about Cheese..." Tomato sighed. "He's nomadic. Makes me wonder if things would work out with Pinkie..."

Silver tilted his head. "Who's Pinkie?"

"His girlfriend." Right after he said that, he got a rubber chicken to the face.

 _"There's nothing romantic between me and her!"_ Cheese hollered from the pirate ship.

Tomato scoffed and whispered to Silver, "He's in denial."

"Er, I dunno anything about that kind of love," Silver replied, looking at the chicken on the ground. "Most I can say is that one winter when I was a colt, I was smitten with my neighbor's cousin when she tried my dad's special mix of hot cocoa and liked it." He chuckled to himself. "I remember that we were joking around about her name and the drink being both named 'Cocoa'. Haven't seen her since, but she was sweet."

"I once crushed on my richest schoolmate; she humiliated me as a teenager, and now I hate her." Tomato snorted at the memory. "What did I even see in her?"

Silver pursed his lips. "Okaaay..." That was when he noticed ponies filing in under the roller coaster hills. "Oh, would you look at that! It must be nine o'clock already!"

Tomato took out a pocket watch and checked it. "So it is. Cheese should start playing his accordion right about... now."

As if on cue, Cheese jumped out of the pirate ship, and was playing his accordion for the crowd. The townsponies were at first shocked by the appearance of this stranger, but they soon smiled and started cheering and clapping for him as he kept on playing and singing his theme song.

Silver bobbed his head to the beat for a few moments, and then stopped when he realized something. "Oh, I better go check on Goldie! If she's feeling any envy right now, it won't be good for her... especially if she challenges him to a Goof Off like the last clown she encountered!"

Tomato was left a little confused as Silver scurried off to find his sister. Still, he shrugged it off, and decided to try to find something to do. So he put away his pocket watch, and started to stroll toward one of the activities.

However, a moment of realization hit him, and with wide eyes, he pulled open his front pocket, only to find it empty, and then pat his person all around. He spun in a circle until he stumbled onto his haunches, blinking in utter confusion.

"I don't remember owning a pocket watch!"

* * *

This was a carnival unlike any other in Halterside. Before, it had been just a regular fun fair with cheap games, a bouncehouse, and some carnival food. However, this year presented a pleasant surprise to the citizens of Halterside with a bigger festival in the town square. Seeing the wide array of activities that were present to them, the townsfolk gleefully went to the first thing that appealed to their tastes, though some stood around awkwardly trying to take it all in.

To say that Comedy Gold was disappointed was an understatement. She was jealous of how Cheese Sandwich managed to whip up something amazing for Halterside Town Day, while all she could do was just decorate with her little party guns. And even those were embarrassing compared to that gigantic party tank of his!

She sat curled up in the corner, watching the ponies having fun. Ignoring the aching in her barrel, she watched the whole thing with bitterness. She especially had her eyes on Cheese Sandwich, wishing she could just waltz up to him and smack him with a banana cream pie. Who was he to steal her thunder?

That was when Silver Shill found her and sat next to her. "Hey, why the long face?"

Goldie snorted. "What right does he have to party on my turf?"

Silver stared at her for a moment and started rubbing her back. "It's only for today, don't fret. You'll be party planning again once you're all better."

"Hmph, even then, next year they'll still compare that festival with _this_ one. How am I supposed to top this guy's party when next year rolls around?"

"Well... maybe... you could, you know, take some notes? I mean, learning from somepony is better than being jealous of them."

"They'll call me a copycat! No, I need to find some way to outshine him!" Goldie huffed. "You know how the entertainment business is-if one gets cold, they won't get sold, and they get put in the back on the discount rack, like a can of beans!"

Silver shook his head. "I don't want you hurting yourself now. The doctor said to take it easy."

"I can't just sit back and watch _him_ get praised for this cheap amusement park knockoff."

He sighed. "It's not about the attention, Goldie. As long as these ponies are having fun and no one's getting hurt, I think it's good enough."

Silver's ear twitched at the sound of faraway circus music, and he perked his head up. Blinking, he stood up, and craned his neck to hear it better. It steadily grew louder and louder, and he started wondering why the circus was coming to town on that day. He looked at the patrons, and everyone was looking in the direction that the music was coming from. Even Cheese Sandwich was curious about the sudden circus music, while Tomato was plugging his ears with a sour expression on his face.

Goldie shakily lifted herself up with a grunt, and then asked, "What's everyone looking at?"

Silver watched as a colorful three-car train came chugging under one of the roller coaster's arches, presumably being the source of the circus music. His eyes widened as he spotted the two ponies who sat on the chairs on the open roofed locomotive. "Oh, no, not them!"

The train stopped, and the two yellow-coated, red-and-white haired unicorns dressed in striped vests and boaters-distinguishable by the fact that one sported a mustache- stood up and looked around. They smirked at each other, and the clean shaven one sang:

 _"My, my, my, what a beautiful town_

 _With many a curious pony_

 _Take a deep whiff of the salty sea air_

 _And take in the view of the sea"_

The other joined in with:

 _"As marvel as this is to us_

 _For these folks it's mundane_

 _Let us break their monotony_

 _With what we've got in this traaaiiiin!"_

One of them pulled a lever, and the cars opened up to create a stage. An extremely muscular pony crawled out of the first car, and twirled his mustache. He flashed a wry grin and waggled his eyebrows.

The unicorns continued to sing.

 _"The Flim Flam brothers introduce_

 _Tyrannosaurus Pecs_

 _Muscle is his special talent_

 _And he can juggle weighty objects!"_

Boulders rolled out of the train car, and Tyrannosaurus Pecs took his cue and juggled them, much to the awe of the crowd.

Cheese Sandwich was standing beside the mayor, who asked, "Did you arrange for this circus train, Mr. Sandwich?"

Cheese shook his head. "I never even heard of this circus train." He turned to Tomato, who had just strolled up next to him, and asked, "Have you heard of it?" When Tomato shook his head in response, Cheese tapped his chin and narrowed his eyes.

From the second car, there came out two ponies-a bearded mare and a regular looking earth pony stallion. Flim and Flam continued to sing:

 _"When she was just a tiny filly_

 _Miss Whiskers already had fuzz_

 _But her ability to grow it at will_

 _Never fails to create a buzz!"_

On cue, Miss Whiskers held her breath, and her beard grew right before the crowd's eyes. "Oohs" and "aahs" were heard, as well as some applause.

Flim and Flam gestured to the stallion.

 _"Now Jeff here may look normal_

 _To the naked pony eye_

 _But watch what happens when we shoot him_

 _Into the great blue sky!"_

A cannon rolled out of the car, and Jeff hopped in. He was blasted into the air, and much to everyone's amazement, he landed on a cloud without falling through. He grinned at the cheering townsfolk and waved at them from his perch.

Flim addressed the crowd once more. "Now, seeing a pegasus born without wings is a very rare sight."

"One in a million chance of it happening!" Flam interjected.

"A lot of these ponies with us are one in a million, brother of mine."

"Ah, yes, why don't we just bring them all out!"

At Flam's word, a bunch of strange ponies marched out of the cars and started to walk among the townsfolk. One pony was extremely tall, another casually walked upright, and another walked on all fours with her belly up. One pony had a square head, another had square hooves, and another was just a normal looking filly... until she looked at Tomato, winked at him, and said in a sultry mare's voice, "Hey, handsome."

Tomato cringed at that. "I don't know if that's a filly with a mare's voice, or a mare in a filly's body."

The next moment had a clown laughing in Tomato's face and honking his horn, which made him yelp and jump into Cheese's forelegs. Quaking and sweating, he cried, "Cheese, make it go away!"

Once again, Flim and Flam sang:

 _"Behold the members of our circus train_

 _Coming from all places in Equestria_

 _They're glad to be part of our family_

 _And they're all happy to see ya!"_

They gestured to the top of the middle train car, where a puff of blue smoke appeared, and then cleared to reveal a white unicorn mare, with an azure and lavender-streaked mane in a French braid, and wearing a black tuxedo and top hat.

 _"And now for our Grand Finale_

 _One that will make your hearts stop!_

 _The lovely Silk Shimmer will do magic feats_

 _That'll make you drop your jaw and-"_

"STOP!"

All activity stopped to look at the short, silver-coated stallion in the back, glaring at the Flim Flam Brothers. The twins blinked at the sight of said stallion before regaining composure and smiling at him.

"Ah, Silver Shill, our old friend," Flim said.

Flam clicked his tongue and shook his head. "It's in poor taste to rhyme a word with itself."

Silver marched to the front of the crowd, who murmured in confusion about the whole thing. When he reached the front, he asked, "All right... what are you two doing in Halterside? And where'd you get that train, and how'd you get all these ponies to work for you?"

The brothers looked at each other, and laughed. Once they were done, Flim said, "Why, that accusatory tone of yours is not very polite, Shill."

His brother patted Silver's head. "The poor fella's convinced that our circus train is some sort of scam."

"Ah, yes, some unfair scheme just to get some bits."

"A unimaginative con, designed to fool ponies as if they didn't have a brain cell."

"Have you no shame, Shill? Assuming that we're unable to turn over a new leaf?"

"Definitely learned a thing or two from Applejack, hm?"

Silver grimaced. "Er..."

Both slung a front leg over his shoulders. Flim chuckled and said, "Still, no hard feelings from us. You quit because you thought you were doing the right thing. How could we resent you for that?"

Flam grinned at him. "By the way? How's that sister of yours? She feeling any better?"

That was when Comedy Gold popped up between them. "I'll have you know that I'm just fine!"

The brothers jumped at her sharp tone. One of them whistled, while the other said, "My, my, she's a fiery one."

Cheese and Tomato Sandwich shuffled to the front of the crowd, the former clearing his throat and saying, "I'm sorry that your song was interrupted by him-as well as Silk Shimmer's performance." He gestured to the curious mare on the top of the train car. "Still... are you two here to contribute to Halterside's Town Day?"

The Flim Flams looked at him, let go of Silver, and strolled toward him. Taking a close look at him, Flim said, "Ah... looks like the famous Cheese Sandwich is in this town as well!"

Flam scratched his chin. "Quite the coincidence, eh, brother?"

"Sounds like a cause for celebration!" Flim then narrowed his eyes at the stallion beside Cheese. "Although I do question his decision to bring his father along."

Tomato jumped at the sound of that. "Father?! Excuse me, but I'm not old enough to be his father!"

Cheese scratched his chin, silently noting Tomato's strong resemblance to their own father. Then, he corrected, "Technically, he isn't even older than me. He's my little brother, Tomato."

Flim laughed. "Well, silly me! Still, that does explain the baby face."

Tomato blushed furiously. "Excuse me, I'm an adult."

The Flim Flams ignored him. Flim then said, "Now, I'm sure you may be inclined to believe Silver here."

Flam then added, "But, believe us when we say that we're only here to make ponies here smile, much like you do."

"After all, what greater reward is there than leaving a positive impact on a pony's life?"

"Surely, you won't mind us holding a show with our buddies in just a corner of this town square, hmm?"

Cheese tapped his chin. "Well... I suppose that it'll make this party better..."

Silver jumped forward. "I'm telling you, Cheese, don't do it! They've scammed ponies before, and believe me when I say that they're not the type to change their con pony ways so quickly."

"Oh, pipe down, Silver Shill!" The mayor said, strolling to the front. She put a hoof on her heart and said, "Pardon me, but since this is my town, and Cheese is merely a guest, let me just say that it would be wonderful if you contributed to the festival."

Silver piped up, "But, mayor-"

"Shush, you!" She turned back to the brothers. "Now... where were we?"

As the mayor discussed payments and what was to be done with the circus train with them, Tomato was having a bad feeling about them. He didn't quite know if it was just their smug grins rubbing him the wrong way, or he was still just miffed about the clown in his face, but he didn't quite trust them. Just looking at them was making his back tingle for some reason. He looked at Cheese, who looked neutral about what was taking place, and at Silver, who was annoyed at being shut up.

Goldie just sat behind the Flim Flam brothers, sitting on her haunches and just seething over yet two more stallions and their lackeys stealing the spotlight. They were destroying her credibility as a party pony, and she wanted to do something to outshine them.

She looked up, and noticed Jeff starting to sink through the cloud. She watched as an alarmed Silk Shimmer quickly zapped him with a spell, and Jeff stopped sinking. Both ponies sighed in relief.

As Silk Shimmer looked to see if anyone saw that, Goldie looked away and started to snicker.

* * *

 **A/N: Back in the day, the hardest part of this chapter was coming up with the Flim Flam Bros' scheme here. After asking for a bit of help and looking over suggestions, the circus train had popped into mind and the rest was a piece of cake.**

 **Anyway... Goldie, what are you up to...?**


	16. Funny Business

The festival was back in full swing once the Flim Flam Brothers had their circus integrated into the celebration. A good chunk of ponies were watching the show, and being wowed by the the strength of Tyrannosaurus Pecs, the acrobatic cloud jumping of Jeff, the beautiful magic tricks of Silk Shimmer, and the feats of the other ponies. The audience was flinging their spare change onto the stage, which was often swept up by the Flim Flams or one of their lackeys after each act.

From a table on the pirate ship, Silver Shill was slurping his soda noisily and with a red face and a glare pointed at the circus. Across from him, Tomato Sandwich just quietly munched on a slice of pizza, his eyebrow raised at Silver's strange behavior, while simultaneously being a little cowed at the stares of other ponies and the performing animal band.

Tomato swallowed his bite and asked, "Are you all right?"

Silver slammed his drink on the table. "I'm not! I still can't believe the mayor let those weasels be part of the festival! I tried to tell her that they're con ponies, but nope! She keeps telling me that they must have 'turned over a new leaf' since I last saw them."

"Mind telling me what they did to make you so angry?"

Silver sighed. "Ever since Goldie got sick and needed surgery, me, my mom, and my other sisters Platinum Pen and Pearly Whites have been trying to pay off the hospital bills. I tried and failed multiple times to get a job, often being turned away because I didn't quite pitch myself the best. By the time I met the Flim Flam brothers, I was pretty desperate. And even when their idea of selling apple and beet juice as a miracle tonic rubbed me the wrong way, I stayed, because I was sure that no one else would take me. I just thought, 'better to lie than to let my sister die or put us into debt.'"

"So... you got yourself involved in a scam to pay for your sister's surgery," Tomato said.

Silver nodded. "We sold the tonic in several towns, with Flim and Flam singing a catchy song and me... well, I pretended to be crippled so I could be 'cured'. We got away with the lie... until we reached Ponyville."

"Hey, that's where Pinkie lives."

Silver shrugged. "I didn't meet this Pinkie. Instead I met a pony named Applejack, who threatened to blow our cover after her grandmother bought some of the tonic."

"Oh, yeah, I've met Applejack. She's actually one of Pinkie's friends."

"Really? Anyway, she caught me being 'cured' a second time, chased me, and then Flim and Flam came in to quell her anger. They pretty much said that she had a choice of outing us and ruining her grandmother's happiness, or just let us sell the harmless tonic and let ponies believe it was a miracle cure." He rubbed the back of his head. "I felt bad for her, since they had played the family card with me, but since the tonic was a fake, I figured that her granny being sincerely healthier than Goldie meant there was no harm done."

Tomato stuffed the rest of his pizza into his mouth and swallowed the whole thing. "So... what happened then?"

Silver stared at him for a moment, noting that Tomato didn't even chew that rather large piece. Shaking his head, he continued, "Oh, well, we were selling at a swim meet, where the grandmother and Applejack's little sister were doing some impressive tricks." He chuckled. "She's a spry old mare, I'll give her that. Anyway, Flim and Flam started billing the tonic as 'Applejack approved' and well, she wasn't very happy about that. And she was even less happy when her grandmother decided to do a high dive into a small pie tin."

"Wait, what?" Tomato blinked. "Okay... that is just stupid."

Silver nodded. "Applejack saved her, of course, but when Flim and Flam encouraged the grandmother to do it again, I was just disgusted. I mean, they'd let an old mare break her neck-or worse, die-just so they could earn more bits? I don't know about you, but I think that would have turned away customers because of that stunt."

"Because it's common sense to stop an old lady from doing that and say that the tonic doesn't make ponies invincible. It would have been obvious it was a fake. Plus... the Apples are highly respected in Equestria, so maiming or killing the matriarch... yeah..."

Silver laid his head on the table. "I was pretty disgusted with myself for going along with the lie until it got to that point. I know I had a good reason for doing so... but let's be honest, more often than not, you're judged by actions, not intent. Applejack finally said that the tonic was a fake, and then when it seemed like Flim and Flam were going to smooth talk their way out of it... well, I decided to provide backup for her. And then they left the town with minimal consequence. Needless to say, I quit working for them and went to earn money elsewhere."

"So, how are things going with that bill?"

"Oh, Mom negotiated with the hospital in order to lower the cost, Penny managed to win a case in Manehattan, Pearl had a well-timed raise, and I sold off the costumes I used in the scam, so we're well on our way on paying it. Everything went well in the operation and Goldie's getting better every day, but I'm worried about her exerting herself before she's completely healed." Then his eyes widened and he scrambled off his seat. "Speaking of whom, where'd she go? Oh, I hope she's not getting into trouble!"

Before Tomato could say another word, Silver Shill dashed away. After staring for a moment, Tomato leaned in his hoof and drew his hoof in circles on the table. He glanced at the rest of the square, where he could see Cheese rolling around on a giant cheese wheel, playing his accordion with vigor. He could see the other ponies laughing and cheering at his stunt, and nearly let out a laugh himself when someone threw a pie at his face.

"Ah, and there's the strapping young Sandwich from earlier!"

Tomato blinked upon finding himself joined at his table by the Flim Flam brothers. Furrowing his brow, he asked, "Uh... don't you have a show to run?"

Flam waved a hoof. "Nothing to worry, dear boy-Silk Shimmer can handle things on her own."

Tomato's eyes went to the train, where the white unicorn was levitating foals through rings of fire, much to the terror of parents in the audience. Recalling Silver Shill's story, he wondered how she ended up as one of the Flim Flams' lackeys, as well as the other ponies.

Flim leaned on the table. "Forgive us for calling you Cheese's father earlier, young colt-it was a joke in poor taste."

Flam chuckled. "A joke based on the clothes you wear and the demeanor you put forth."

"Though we would have truly-"

"Undeniably-"

"And positively have been truly confused had it not been for your baby face."

Tomato huffed and turned away pouting. "I do not have a baby face!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Tomato," Flim said. "A baby face means you're going to age well."

Flam chuckled. "Still, I can see why he dresses in a suit. After all, he seems like the type who wants to be taken seriously."

Tomato whickered in annoyance. "You got that right. Okay, what do you want with me?"

Flim grinned at him. "We were hoping that we could give a few pointers to you, so that you could bring your talent to its fullest potential."

Tomato rolled his eyes. "Thanks, but no thanks. I can learn from plenty of others."

"Oh, come on, don't you want to earn lots of money? It's obviously your special talent, am I right?"

Flam clucked. "I don't know, I think he'd prefer to learn the party trade from that brother of his."

Flim laughed. "Ah, but doesn't Cheese Sandwich have a good pitch? That song of his gets stuck in your head after all."

"I do believe you're right, brother of mine... shame when we spoke with him, he said that the majority of his parties are nonprofit. How does he live?" The two of them looked at Tomato in hopes of an answer.

Tomato gave them a bored look. "I don't know. He says I wouldn't comprehend it. And I can't really learn the trade, since I'm not a party pony."

The twins burst out laughing, which made Tomato nearly stumble out of his seat. His stool fell to the floor, but he caught himself by his tail and balanced on it. He quickly swiped the stool, and put it back in place before sliding back on.

Flim finished laughing first. "You have quite the sense of humor, Tommy-boy. Come now, if you can't learn from your brother, we can give you some nice tips so that you could grow into something extraordinary."

Flam swung a fist. "Ripen into a glorious pinnacle that businessponies everywhere will aspire to."

"I can see you being so big, millions of ponies will envy your success."

At the word "envy", some unpleasant memories cropped up in Tomato's mind, and he started to sink. It didn't help that even with their positive tone, they were still making him rather uncomfortable. He attempted to rationalize it in his mind by thinking, _It's that circus theme they've got, is all. I've never really liked circuses, since the music's annoying and... clowns..._

He froze when Flim slung a front leg over his shoulder. "Now, now, now, Mr. Sandwich, do realize a business pony cannot be coy."

Flam appeared on his other side. "Especially when trying to promote whatever product or service you're offering."

"Speaking of which... what kind of business _are_ you planning to be involved in, boy?"

Tomato swatted them both away. "Okay, you're in my personal space! Do you need to ask questions that close? I don't want to feel your breath. Not to mention you both need mints."

Both brothers shook their heads at the same time. Flim clicked his tongue and said, "No need to be rude. Seriously, is that the best way you can avoid the question?"

Tomato huffed and grumbled, "I'm sure I'll be in the financial department... somewhere in some company... I'll figure it out. Right now, I'm just in college, still learning."

"Oh... you'll figure it out, eh?" Flim chuckled. "And yet you're dressed like somepony completely confident and sure of their goals in life."

Flam tapped his brother's shoulder. "Let's not forget, brother of mine, that a tomato is a fruit pretending to be a vegetable."

Tomato's face turned redder than it already was, and he sharply exhaled hot breaths through his nostrils. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Flim smirked. "Well, I suppose if you don't want our two bits, I guess we'll leave you to 'figure it out'."

Flam nodded. "We wish you the best of luck, young stallion. Maybe if you remember how you earned your cutie mark, things will sort themselves out."

Flim and Flam started to trot away, snickering. One of them then said, "I'm sure someday he'll get that ponies do whatever it takes to earn bits as quickly as they can. Something tells me that he'll become quite the pennypincher once he gets in the game."

The other laughed and said, "I'll be sad if he doesn't ever get into the game with how shy he's being."

Tomato snorted as they trotted out of his earshot. Crossing his forelegs, he growled, "I'm not shy! I will figure it out... if I don't, Mom will get on my case."

His gaze fell from the brothers to his cutie mark. He took a long, hard look at it, examining every detail of it. The slight triangular shape of the dark red tomato's globe, emblazoned with the classic dollar sign, seemed like a foreboding cutie mark. The leaves being tied up reminded him of how trapped he felt. But, as class after class had told him, a cutie mark was a representation of who he is.

His tail whipped around to cover the mark, and he wondered whether or not he had earned the wrong mark.

* * *

Comedy Gold's plan was simple enough. All she had to do was kidnap that white unicorn mare, and then the cloudwalking spell on that pony pretending to be a wingless pegasus would wear off-exposing the Flim Flam brothers for the liars they were. All she needed was an opening where she couldn't get caught.

From her perch behind the circus train's stage, in the support beams of the roller coaster, Goldie watched Silk Shimmer create a magical tightrope between clouds for Jeff to walk across. Scoffing, Goldie took a frying pan from within her cloak, and twirled it. "I can't wait to use this."

So she sat there, waiting for the moment when Silk would have to leave the stage. As admittedly impressive some of the tricks were, Goldie had to remind herself that this entire thing was a fake. Jeff was an earth pony, Miss Whiskers' beard was a fake, the things that Tyrannosaurus Pecs lifted were actually really light and he was just wearing a muscle suit-the only thing she was sure was not a fake was Silk Shimmer, given she was casting a whole lot of spells. If anything, she seemed to be above average in magic ability.

Which would make it all the more sweeter when everything came crashing down due to her being missing.

Silk Shimmer made the rocks that Tyrannosaurus Pecs juggled larger, and she made hoops that Miss Whiskers leapt through with her now walking beard. Silk herself summoned a lot of doves, which formed into a flying carpet for her to sit on. As her "carpet" soared above the crowd, she blew kisses and pulled thornless roses out of her sleeve, tossing them to the crowd.

Goldie scoffed at this and rolled her eyes. _You have some nerve showing off like that._

However, when Silk pulled out a long balloon and blew it up, she tried her best to twist it into a balloon animal... with her hooves. Of course, her attempts resulted in it slipping out of her hooves, and it drifted down to the audience. In a panic, she blasted it with magic. Instead of levitation, however, the balloon exploded into flaming confetti, much to the fright of the audience.

Alarmed, Goldie stashed away the frying pan, and took out a water machine gun instead. She quickly shot at every piece of confetti before she hid behind a support beam. She held her breath, awaiting the moment that somepony would find her.

A pause occurred instead, and while there was murmuring, it sounded as if they assumed it was part of the act. Goldie exhaled, and she rubbed her aching side. Things were getting a little too excitable for her, but why quit when she had a fraud to reveal?

Finally, the moment came when Silk Shimmer jumped off her dove carpet, and announced, "Well... uh... I hope you enjoyed my magic tricks! I'll be back later with more, so don't you fret!"

She hopped off the stage and trotted to the other side of the train. The unicorn sat down, took a deep breath and wiped her brow. Crossing her front legs, she grumbled, "Ugh, levitation! I messed simple _levitation_ up! Oh, Celestia, I'm so stupid... no wonder Kazam's ahead of me in this business." She stood up and walked away, shaking her head. "And Party Favor would balk at what I did to that balloon..."

She unknowingly walked directly under where a certain party pony was perched...

 _CLANG!_

Comedy Gold's leap was swift, and a frying pan knocked off Silk Shimmer's hat and met her skull before the unicorn even knew it. The clang produced a warped echo, and Goldie grabbed Silk's suit jacket and attempted to pull her away. But she quickly discovered that she had two problems.

One she found out when her side started to scream, with a harsh stinging sensation on her skin, while inside felt like a crocodile ripping her muscles and organs apart, radiating throughout her barrel. She found herself unable to get far in that kind of agony, so she plopped herself on the less painful side of her body, breathing through her teeth. She checked under her bandages, only to find a sight that wasn't very pretty. She groaned, now regretting not listening to Silver about taking it easy.

Her second problem came when she realized that Silk Shimmer hadn't been knocked out. She was awake, wincing from her throbbing head, and her blue eyes were giving Goldie a glower that was hardly lenient. In fact, she looked nearly ready to kill her.

"What'd you do that for?!" Silk snapped. "I didn't do anything to you!"

Goldie bit her lip. "Uh..."

Silk levitated the frying pan, and then tossed it away. "You've got some nerve assaulting me like that. What, you don't like me or something? You hate magicians? Or is this a weird way of asking if you could join our little crew?"

Goldie put her front hooves on the ground, and lifted herself up. Even though pain was gnawing at her side, she kept herself from crying out, only letting out a grunt between her teeth. Taking deep breaths, she growled, "Why would I want to join a fake circus and scam ponies?"

Silk's eyes widened. "How did you-uh, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about."

"What, you didn't think I saw you perform a cloudwalking spell on Jeff?" Goldie spat. "He ain't no wingless pegasus, he's just an earth pony! And I'm sure Miss Whiskers is just wearing a fake beard that's enchanted, and that those 'boulders' Tyrannosaurus Pecs are in reality, super light."

Silk scoffed. "Seriously? What proof do you have...?" Her eyes widened as it clicked. "Oooh, you were trying to expose them by taking me out of the equation..."

"You're obviously a powerful unicorn, you didn't need the help of those scammers to show your stuff. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got twins to destroy." Goldie snorted, and started her slow, agonizing walk. Her stomach was churning as she did so, and her world was slowly starting to spin. Pain radiated from her left to her right, and her hooves felt heavy. But there was no way anypony was going to stop her now.

Silk Shimmer hopped right in front of her. "Please don't tell anypony! I joined this troupe because I wasn't doing very well and getting overshadowed by my older brother, and the Flim Flams were helping me back up on my hooves! Look, I'll take you to the hospital in exchange for-"

"I don't need to see a doctor!" Goldie snapped. "Gosh, why does everypony insist on babying me?"

Silk Shimmer scowled at her. "I'm not babying you, I can tell that you're seriously in pain-stop being such a stubborn brat!"

Goldie attempted to shuffle around Silk. "I'm... not... in... pai-" She bumped into a support beam, and then she screamed. She was on the verge of both tears and collapse, but she was still keeping herself steady. She glanced at Silk, who was giving her a look of pity. Pouting, she grumbled, "Don't give me that look."

That was when they both noticed the Flim Flam Brothers strolling up to them.

"Ah, I see you're making new friends, Silk Shimmer," Flim said with a smile on his face.

Flam nodded. "And with that adorable little sister of Silver Shill's."

Silk Shimmer chuckled and said, "Yeah... in fact, I was just about to take her out for ice cream!"

Goldie scoffed. "I'm lactose intolerant."

Flim clicked his tongue. "There is no need to lie, girls. We heard poor Comedy Gold screaming in agony."

Silk's smile fell. "Oh... well..."

Flam waved a hoof. "Don't worry your pretty head, Silkie. We're feeling generous today, and so we'll gladly take your friend to the hospital."

Goldie snorted. "You can forget it, you poor excuses of ringmasters! You're just trying to butter me up so that you can get away with fooling audiences with those ponies just given a temporary superpower by your lackey here!"

Silk jumped, and whispered, "Shush, you! Don't let them know you're onto them!"

Goldie ignored her. "At least the showoff that got here first is doing genuine tricks and stuff, and is not lying just for profit. I have to say, as irritating as that wannabe cowboy is, at least he's a good party pony. Pfft, as if you can top one of those ponies, I should know, I'm one of 'em."

Flim and Flam glanced at each other, not quite impressed with her rant. One of them lifted his hat and pulled out a spray can.

Goldie continued, "Anyway, Silver was right when he said you were untrustworthy. It's a real shame that he had to work for you bozos just to-"

Flim nonchalantly sprayed her with the spray, and Goldie collapsed in a snoozing heap.

Flam shook his head. "Shame that we had to use the Spray n' Scape."

Silk groaned. "Guys, she could barely move! You didn't need to use it."

"She talks too much," Flim said. "Besides, we can't have her exposing our little secret, and it's difficult to convince a stubborn filly like that not to talk."

Silk put a hoof to her face. "Then what are you going to do with her? I don't know any memory removal spells, and even if I did, those have nasty side effects."

"Theoretically, if she had damaged anything of ours, we'd have to expect her to be able to pay us back..." Flim scratched his chin as a smirk came upon his face.

Flam nodded, the same smirk coming upon his face. "Yes, yes, either with money, or with her own hard work-though only after she heals from her problem."

They turned to Silk Shimmer. "Say, Silkie, you know any glamour spells?"

* * *

 **A/N: Well... this chapter is... something.**

 **Yeah, I headcanon Silver Shill as having three sisters-Platinum Pen, Pearly Whites, and Comedy Gold. I'm planning on Penny and Pearl to pop up later on this road trip, since they're fun characters themselves.**

 **Goldie's being kind of an idiot here, I know.**

 **Lastly, the Spray n' Scape... came about by a video my cousin made with some classmates. It's a running gag between us, and it's in another story of mine (not here on FanFiction).**


	17. Flim Flam vs Sandwich

Once he took a bow and let the group on guitars take the stage, Cheese waltzed over to the nearest bench to sit down and catch his breath. He set Boneless 2 down next to him, pulled out his canteen, and guzzled down his water. Smacking his lips and wiping sweat off his brow, he noted that the sun had reached its zenith, and dare he say that it was not being kind. Not only was he sweating, but he could see the better part of the party's attendants getting themselves wet in any way they could. Standing near the splash zones of the roller coaster, dunking themselves in the plaza's water fountain-though some got confused and jumped into either the chocolate or cheese fountains-calls to go to the beach, setting off Comedy Gold's water balloon tripwires, and even bringing kiddie pools from their homes.

"I wonder if Princess Celestia ever receives complaints about the sun being too hot?" he muttered. He held up his rubber chicken and squeaked, "'I'd like to formally request the Princess to turn the sun's heat down'."

It wasn't long before Tomato came and sat down next to him, sighing loudly and leaning into his hooves. Cheese glanced at him, noticed that he was still wearing the jacket, and said, "Tommy, take your jacket off. It's hot."

Tomato didn't even look at him. "I noticed."

"I don't want you getting heat stroke." Cheese leaned over and quickled swiped the brown jacket off of Tomato, leaving the buttoned shirt on. "You really should have chosen a short sleeve shirt, to be honest."

"Hm, thanks."

Cheese blinked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

Cheese scooted toward him, and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Look, you don't need to be afraid to just talk to me. Can't keep your feelings pent up forever, you know? Besides, no concern of yours is too trivial or ridiculous for me to ignore, am I right?"

Tomato whickered, his nose pointing to the circus train. His eyes followed the pony cartwheeling on the clouds. "...it's nothing."

Cheese looked in that direction. "Does the circus bug you? Because you know..." He lowered his voice to a whisper. " _...clowns_."

Tomato snarled. "They better stay over there and not get in my face again. Besides... ugh, it's nothing."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the Flim Flam brothers lying and this thing being a hoax like Silver Shill said, are you?"

Tomato sighed. "Even if it is a hoax... it doesn't really seem like they're doing any harm. They are just entertaining ponies."

"There may be an angry mob if they're exposed. Ponies generally don't like being lied to."

Tomato blew on his forelock, and watched Miss Whiskers bemoaning some sort of plight about an orphanage she grew up in, earning her some charitable donations. "Especially when money is involved..." He started to play with his cheeks, rubbing with his hooves in circular motions just to get a feel of his own face. "Doesn't feel like a baby face..."

Cheese tilted his head. "Huh?"

Before the matter could press on further, Silver Shill skidded to a stop in front of them, his back to them. His eyes were wide and dashing to every place in the square, his legs were trembling, and he was gnawing at his hoof. His chest was visibly heaving, and he was sweating like crazy.

"Hey, Silver, what's going on?" Cheese asked.

Silver whirled around and yammered, "Oh, man, I can't find Goldie anywhere! She's not here, she's not at home, she's not at the park, she's not at the beach, she's not at that weird toy store she likes, she's not anywhere! Oh, man, if she strains herself while still recovering, I don't think I'll be able to forgive myself!"

"Whoa, there," Tomato said. "Calm down, panicking won't get you anywhere."

"I know that!" Silver snapped.

Cheese glanced at Tomato. "Hey, now, Tommy, I reacted the same way whenever you wandered off when we were colts." He hopped off the bench and stood up tall. "Besides, I can sense other party ponies. In fact, I sense her over there."

Silver turned to see that Cheese was pointing to the circus train, where true to form, that cream-colored, strawberry blonde mare was hanging out near the engine. The shorter stallion breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his brow.

"Oh, thank goodness. Say, what is she doing-"

 _BOOM!_

The alarmed crowd let out a cacophony of yelps, screams, and shouts in response to the exploding engine, while Goldie stumbled back in response to the sudden gushing smoke. She looked right and left as if she didn't know what to do.

Silver's jaw dropped, and then he yelled, "Goldie!"

Goldie turned her head to see him, and then she dashed off to behind the train in a panic. Silver took off running in pursuit, and after giving each other uneasy looks, both Cheese-after flinging Boneless 2 onto his back-and Tomato followed.

Once they reached behind the train, they were surprised to find that the Flim Flam brothers had already caught her with their magic. They were behaving rather coolly with her, merely shaking their heads in disappointment.

"For shame, Miss Gold... for shame," Flim said. "To think we thought that you were so sweet and innocent."

"I had always heard that party ponies were honorable," Flam said. "Nopony considers sabotage to be honorable."

They glanced at Silver Shill, who was hanging his jaw in disbelief. Flim turned to him and said, "Oh, Shilly... I'm so sorry you had to see this-but your sister decided to bust up our engine out of pure envy."

"Envy?" Silver repeated.

"Envy!" Flam exclaimed. "And now that our engine is busted up, we cannot chug this train to the next town."

"And well, we all know that fixing it costs money, so, it'd be nice if you could pay for reparations," Flim said, idly examining his hoof.

Silver gulped. "Flim, Flam, I'm really sorry about Goldie doing that to you-really, I am. But, the thing is... we're still paying off her hospital bill, and I don't think we have enough to even pay for repairs. Money's been tight ever since our father died."

Flim clicked his tongue. "Justice doesn't take pity on those bereaved of a parent. Either you pay for the repairs with approximately... 500 bits, or your sister here would just have to work for us in order to replace those profits we spend on a repairpony."

"Flim, Flam, she's not fully recovered from her surgery!"

Flam stroked his mustache. "She should have thought of that before attacking us like that."

Flim strode forward, put himself beside Silver, and patted his back. "Don't worry, Shilly, we'll take good care of her, and she'll only work minor jobs until she can do... party pony stuff."

Silver and Goldie looked at each other. The latter looked guilty to the point of tears, and after staring at him with big blue eyes for a few moments, she turned away. The former, while initially showing sorrowful concern on his face, slowly narrowed his eyes, put a hoof to his mouth, and tilted his head.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Cheese exclaimed. "Excuse me, but... are you seriously telling us that you're enslaving her?"

"There's a difference between slavery and working off a debt, Mr. Sandwich," Flam said.

"I just-I, uh-look, maybe I could fix your engine."

Flim laughed. "An engine is different from an accordion."

Cheese gave them a half-lidded stare. "I have a party tank-I have to know how to maintain it."

"Doesn't mean you know how to fix a train engine."

"Well, I wouldn't call it a standard train engine, considering the way this thing's built, but, hey, I've picked up on fixing things over the years-I took a few lessons when I was a teenager. Trust me on this-I fix the engine for free, you don't lose any money, Silver and his family don't go a step backward in paying that hospital bill, and I'm sure they'll figure out a way to punish Goldie for her mischief without having to lose her." Cheese clapped and grinned. "Everypony wins! Right, Boneless 2?"

The rubber chicken flopped onto the ground.

Flam scoffed. "The punishment still has to fit the crime. Besides, nothing is free, Cheese Sandwich. Just how do you set these parties up without it being costly?"

Tomato stepped forward. "For crying out loud, just take his offer. It's the best option for all parties here. There's no reason for you to refuse it... unless you're just using this as an excuse to add a party pony to your troupe, because after all, aren't they ponies with bizarre powers, that are perfect for a circus? Sounds like she'd be very profitable, huh?"

The Flim Flam Brothers turned to him. Flim then said, "There's nothing wrong with her being profitable, you should know that! I suppose we were right about you... you're just a naive colt just dressing up as an adult just so he could be taken seriously. You still have a lot to learn..."

Tomato ground his teeth. "I have nothing against her being profitable-I'm against how you're planning to extort her. And I am an adult! You know nothing about me!"

They ignored him, and turned to Silver. Flam tousled his mane and said, "She needs to spread her wings and fly, Shilly! Fierce loudmouth she may be, but with us, we promise that she'll bloom into something extraordinary!"

Silver huffed and glanced at Goldie once again. "Doesn't change the fact that you're trying to justify kidnapping her."

"It's not kidnapping if we're discussing it," Flim said.

"Look," Cheese said, picking up Boneless 2 and slinging him back on his back. "I get that she should be held accountable for her actions-but party pony powers aren't meant to be used for profit. The fact that you're refusing my offer so that you could use her against her will to earn a quick bit- _while she's still healing,_ mind you-doesn't sit well with me. I'm surprised she's not disputing it!"

"We're magicking her mouth shut."

"What?!" Silver shouted.

Flam twirled his mustache. "So... are you going to fight us over this?"

Cheese shook his head. "No, I'm not interested in a fight."

"Not even a music fight?"

"I like music... but, not fighting."

Flim chuckled. "What's the matter, Cheesy... chicken?"

Cheese raised an eyebrow. "I've already got one." He turned to show them Boneless 2. "See?"

"Nice looking chicken it is. Say, his name is Boneless, right?"

Cheese pursed his lips. "Technically, it's Boneless 2, Boneless sacrificed himself in order to save Equestria."

Silver looked to Tomato for clarification of that statement, but Tomato raised his hoof and gave him a look that said 'don't ask.'

Flam nudged his brother. "I wonder if Cheese Sandwich is as 'boneless' as his chicken."

Cheese frowned. "What did you call me?"

"Oh, nothing, just a little something suggesting that you don't have a spine."

Flim snickered. "Or a skeleton for that matter."

As the twins laughed, Cheese's face fell into a stony glare, and he growled, "Nopony calls me boneless! You want your music battle? I'll give you a music battle!"

Silver looked at him. "Cheese, it's two against one! That's hardly fair!"

"Silver Shill is right!" Flim gasped. With a smirk and a glance at Goldie, he said, "Why don't we make things interesting, and make it a battle of duets? The Flim Flam brothers versus Cheese Sandwich and..."

Cheese stretched his front leg to the side, and drew Tomato close to him. "Tomato Sandwich."

Tomato's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!"

"Flim Flam Brothers versus Sandwich Brothers, I see," Flam said. "Winner decides the fate of Comedy Gold."

* * *

Both parties prepared for the music battle later that afternoon. Sitting in the shade of the pirate ship pizza parlor, where Cheese Sandwich tuned his accordion and sang a few practice notes, the other member of the Sandwich party was clearly not happy with the turn of events. In fact, he expressed his displeasure by smacking his brother on the back of the head.

"How could you drag me into this?!" Tomato snapped, leaping to his hooves and pacing back and forth. "You know I don't like singing in public!"

Cheese rubbed where Tomato hit him. "We agreed it was going to be a duet battle-and quite frankly, you're my only option."

"You didn't ask Silver Shill if he could sing!" Tomato pulled at his mane. "This is _his_ sister we're fighting for! Why'd you agree to a duet battle? You can defeat them on your own!"

Cheese blinked and chuckled. "I'm really flattered you think that."

"Yes, I do." Tomato smoothed down his mane. "And I'll only hold you back."

"Now how can a stallion with a great singing voice hold me back?" Cheese leapt to his hooves and pulled Tomato to his side. "When the Sandwich voices combine, the Flim Flam brothers won't stand a chance!"

Cheese then sat back down, and played a few practice notes. "Heck, I bet you could defeat them on your own if you wanted to."

Tomato sat down, wishing that they were sitting on grass instead of cobblestone. Still, he bore it, and he turned to the circus train on the other side of the square. He stared at it, shaking his head at the cage Goldie was put in to prevent her from causing more mischief, or so it was claimed. He wondered what the Flim Flams' game plan was, especially against Cheese Sandwich.

And even though Cheese was confident in him, Tomato worried about being nothing but an obstacle.

* * *

In an open space in the square, all the party's attendants were watching from nearly every corner. Some watched from the pirate ship, some from the fountains, some from the tops of houses, and many others stood in a large circle around the two duos. Both sets of brothers stretched their muscles, and made sure their throats were clear and their voices were working. The Flim Flam brothers made sure their dress was clean, and Flam groomed his mustache. Cheese made sure his accordion was in tip top shape, while Tomato was busy looking at the large crowd that was gathered, edging closer to Cheese for comfort.

Silver Shill sat next to the cage that Comedy Gold sat in, watching from the train. After a brief glance at the competitors, he looked at Goldie and said, "Funny thing that you have four stallions fighting over you, and none of it is romantic. Hardly happens, am I right?"

Goldie didn't answer, staring straight ahead.

Silver pouted, and leaned against the cage. "Goldie, this may be our last chance to talk, and your mouth isn't magicked shut this time."

There was still silence.

Silver sighed. "Remember the day we earned our cutie marks? You know, how you took charge and made changes to the school carnival because it had a reputation of being boring? And how I had to work hard to convince everypony that it was different that year? Hehe, yeah, it was a blast. I especially liked the Chocolate Dolphin Slippery Dandy."

"The what?" Goldie said, with a completely different voice from before. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth.

Silver laughed. "Caught ya. And from the looks of the attendance of the other freaks..." Silver leaned over to count the members of the troupe. "...looks like you're either one of the clowns or that unicorn magician. Snake Shiner, am I right?"

'Goldie' snorted and growled, "I think that guy's taking a nap again... and the name's Silk Shimmer!" Then, realizing her mistake, the disguised Silk did a facehoof. "D'oh... ugh, how'd you know?"

"I'm Goldie's brother. Okay, you, where is she?"

Silk sighed. "In the train, asleep because of a knockout spray. So... what part of her did I get wrong?"

"Frankly, you were acting too passive to be her. She's a fiery and stubborn mare."

"Mmm, true... she did hit me with a frying pan."

"She what?"

"Shush, the battle's about to start!"

Silver went quiet, and watched as the scene before them unfolded. The Flim Flams and the Sandwiches had finished their stretching, and looked around. Then, Flim stood up on his hind legs and started to address the crowd.

"Welcome, welcome, ponies, to our grand music battle!" Flim announced with gusto. He was back on all fours. "We present to you the clash of the musical talents of the Sandwich Brothers and the Flim Flam Brothers. I suppose you're wondering what the point of this match is, and why we musicians have to fight. Well, we had a little dispute about what should be done about our little saboteur..."

Flam joined in with, "And thus, we're settling our argument. But not to worry, it's all in good fun! Anything to entertain you ponies, am I right?"

"And it's an honor to go toe-to-toe with the amazing and hilarious Cheese Sandwich... aaand that brother of his that I forgot the name of."

"Hey!" Tomato snapped.

"His name's Tomato, brother of mine," Flam reminded.

Flim laughed and smacked his forehead. "My mistake then! Well, then, if you folks are booing anypony during the match, don't throw him."

Tomato leaned over to Cheese and whispered, "Why are they so intent on getting on my nerves?"

Flim continued, "And now... it's time to list off the rules...

 _Each verse from one side needs to be matched by the other_

 _At least one line has to be sung by each brother."_

Flam joined in with,

 _"Both siblings have to be equal, have to be in sync_

 _If one does all the work, what would all these ponies think?"_

Cheese stepped forward, and sang,

 _"I can accept those rules, I can say that they seem fair_

 _My baby bro and I will certainly treat them with care."_

Tomato gulped, and added,

 _"And now that we've got that covered, let this battle begin_

 _Sandwiches vs. Flim Flams... let's see who will win..."_

Tomato jumped upon hearing the music's sudden swelling, and looked around at the crowd starting to bounce. Glancing back at Cheese getting ready to start playing his accordion, he wiped sweat off his brow and quietly tried to bid his racing heart to slow back down to it's regular, steady beat.

Flim and Flam marched forward, smug looks on their faces. Flim opened his mouth and sang:

 _"Entertainment is a delicate art_

 _You never know just what'll hit their hearts"_

Flam then added, looking straight at Tomato:

 _"An audience can sense the slightest bit of stage fright_

 _And you better pray hard that things will turn out all right."_

A grand gesture of the hooves toward the Sandwiches indicated their turn, and Cheese didn't hesitate to use his tail to spring himself into the air. While in midair, Cheese started to play his accordion.

 _"A creative use of talent can go a long way_

 _It's great when ponies want to hear you sing every day!"_

Cheese landed next to Tomato, and nudged him. The latter pulled at his collar, and cleared his throat.

 _"Wh-when all is said and done, and when you celebrate_

 _Be sure that you didn't serve all that's on your plate."_

Tomato breathed a sigh of relief, glad his turn was over. He glanced at the crowd, who seemed a little confused at Tomato's choice of words. It didn't help that Cheese commented, "I don't think they quite got your metaphor."

Flim and Flam chuckled, and sang together.

 _"They say two is better than one_

 _That it is double the fun_

 _After all, isn't that what siblings are for?_

 _But consider it a test_

 _When you have to sing a duet_

 _As a team effort, not your own little war!"_

Silk put a hoof to her mouth. "I come from a family of three."

"I'm the third of four," Silver replied.

Cheese was now circling the Flim Flams while rolling a cheese wheel, a baffled and terrified Tomato sitting on his shoulders and clinging to his head. With a grin and a wink toward the confused twins, he sang:

 _"Tommy and I don't have to be twins_

 _To be a super duper team!_

 _A three-year gap isn't really that much_

 _For two brothers who can open up and sing!"_

Squeezing his eyes shut, Tomato added,

 _"Cheese alone bears a load of talent_

 _Quite useful considering the job he does_

 _I would say that he doesn't really need me_

 _To get this crowd abuzz."_

The crowd was starting to cheer, stomping in applause for the scene in front of them. Tomato's eyes were squeezed tighter, and he cursed under his breath about being reminded that there was an audience. Even with his jacket off, Tomato's coat was already growing damp with sweat.

Flim and Flam just watched the cheese wheel circle them, and just glanced at each other. Flim looked up at the stallion rolling it.

 _"My, my, my, what an interesting trick_

 _I do wonder where that cheese wheel came from."_

Flam then added,

 _"I must agree that it is very impressive_

 _And I hope that up there they're both having fun."_

Cheese then jumped and kicked the cheese wheel onto its side, and landed on it to use it as a stage to dance on. Once Cheese reached the ground, the shock of the impact made Tomato release Cheese's head and fall flat on his back, muttering an "Ow...". This went unnoticed by Cheese as he sang,

 _"Well, what can I say? I strive to be fun_

 _And to make my parties great for everyone_

 _From the very moment I earned my cutie mark_

 _Making others happy is how I do my part!"_

Cheese gestured to the still-aching Tomato, making minor twitches to tell him that it was his turn. Upon noticing, Tomato stood up, brushed himself off, and cleared his throat again.

 _"Well, I, um, I just sing sparingly_

 _It's not really a talent I like to flaunt, you see_

 _I guess I'm good, at least that's what I've been told_

 _But because my brother asked-"_

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a tannish-yellow form topped with red-orange. He turned to it, and for a moment, there stood his mother, looking on disapprovingly at both her sons. She especially glared at Tomato, and shaking her head, she said, "Do I see a music note on that flank?"

Tomato's tail instinctively covered his flank, and he could feel a lump in his throat. Just what was he doing?

That was when Cheese shouted, "Tomato!"

 _"Eek! Potato casserole!"_

Everything went silent for a moment as they processed what he sang. And then, the crowd burst out laughing, as did the Flim Flam Brothers. At the sound of the laughter, Cheese grimaced and put a hoof to his face, while Tomato flushed beet red. He looked at the very same spot where Mom had been standing, but she had disappeared.

From their place near the train, Silver Shill and the still-disguised Silk Shimmer watched the screw up in disbelief. Silk put a hoof to her mouth, while Silver cringed. The former turned to the latter and said, "Well, that can't be a good sign."

Silver pursed his lips and gazed at the ground. "I just hope it's a little hiccup in their performance. I mean... they _can't_ lose!" Then he turned to her once again. "You know, you're a nice and very talented mare... why are you working for them?"

Silk sighed. "Well... I was promised more exposure, and told me that I'd be big enough to take on the Mystical Master of Magic, Kazam. And, well, since the guy's my older brother and thinks he's better than me, I just want to show him what I'm made of and have him take me seriously! And from joining them, they got me involved in faking freaks of nature so they could run a mini-circus. Sure, we're lying, but it can't be that bad."

"Silk... I've worked for them, and I've thought the exact same thing. But I learned that a little white lie can snowball into a disaster. I mean, an old mare nearly killed herself because she thought the miracle tonic we were selling made her invincible. Sure, your circus seems like harmless entertainment... but do you really want to be involved in a kidnapping? Just so Flim and Flam can profit off of a party pony?"

Silk grimaced. "Well... when you put it that way..."

Back in the square, the crowd ceased their laughing, as did the Flim Flams, who climbed onto the cheese stage. Flim stepped forward and crooned,

 _"Well, Tomato, I will admit_

 _That was a close one_

 _You're lucky that lyrics don't matter in this fight_

 _Or else you and Cheese would have been done."_

Flam then added,

 _"I cannot imagine how embarrassing that was_

 _To say something random like that_

 _And be the target of mocking laughter_

 _For a verse that clearly fell flat."_

Cheese huffed.

 _"I assure you all that he won't do that again_

 _We all make mistakes, no need to fret,"_

He glanced at Tomato, and noticed that he was sweating. Silently cursing the heat, he added,

 _"It's probably just the heat getting to his head..."_

In one swift motion, Cheese grabbed his brother, sped to the nearest building, and set off one of Goldie's balloon tripwires. Almost instantly, water balloons exploded on their heads, and they were soaked in less than ten seconds.

 _"Ta-da! Now we're all wet!"_

Dripping wet and shivering, Tomato couldn't help but hear the phantoms of the laughter earlier, and the lump in his throat swelled. He wondered if anyone would notice if he was crying, but realizing that it would be undignified and a haunting memory about how funny it was when he cried made him hold back. Plus, that would make them lose the battle. So, he swallowed the lump, and shakily sang,

 _"Well... uh... at least my mistake rhymed_

 _And that all of you are really having a good time,"_

He took a deep breath, and marched on forward, holding his composure. He had to remember why he was doing this. He was going to help his brother win this. He was going to help Comedy Gold out of her jam. He was going to show them all that he was more than the narrow definition of his cutie mark that his mother had put upon him. He stood steadfast and looked the Flim Flams in the eyes.

 _"But we won't be beaten, you cannot bring us down_

 _We'll show you what we're made of, and-"_

That was when a clown came onto the scene with a bag of peanuts, and looked around, and stared straight at Tomato with tired, soulless eyes. "Hey... I take a nap and you guys are all singing? Geez, you're all rude."

Panic surged within Tomato, and he bolted off into the other direction. _"Oh, Celestia, not a clown!"_

Cheese's jaw was slack as he gaped at the scene before him. Then he shook his head and yelled, "Of all the times for something like that to happen, it had to be now?!" With a groan, he started to chase Tomato, shouting, "Tommy! We're not done yet!"

Flim and Flam laughed. The former clutched his stomach and said, "I didn't see that one coming!"

The latter replied, "Pfft, who would have thought he was afraid of clowns?"

Cheese ambled back to the cheese stage, dragging a chocolate-covered Tomato by the tail and grumbling about the lousy random luck that was the clown. He shot a glare at said clown, and the clown understood the silent threat that Cheese was sending him and ran off. Then he looked up at the Flim Flams.

With a chuckle, Flim sang,

 _"Forgive us for our tired clown_

 _But the fella does need his sleep."_

Flam added,

 _"We opted not to wake him up_

 _Since when he's tired he gives ponies the creeps."_

Cheese snorted.

 _"Well now since that's all done and over with_

 _We can get back to business..."_

He looked at Tomato, who was now sitting up and gazing fearfully at the crowd. Here he was, sitting in the middle of a street, covered in chocolate due to trying to hide in a certain fountain. He could see them all grinning and snickering at him, presumably from the three things from the last several minutes being very silly. And downright embarrassing.

He looked down at the ground, cursing himself for doing something outside of his cutie mark. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing that he could just disappear.

 _"I... I... I can't."_

Cheese's face fell, and he grabbed Tomato by the front leg. "Yes, you can, Tomato! After all, aren't we a team?" He tried to lift him to his hooves, but to no avail. "Come on, I know you have it in you! Why are you giving up?"

Tomato slid his foreleg out of Cheese's grasp. "Because I'm a burden, that's why!"

Cheese stepped back in surprise of Tomato's sharp voice. Cheese kept gazing at him, even when Tomato turned away, buried his face in his hooves and muttered, "Just bury me so I can suffocate in the ground..."

Cheese jumped at the sound of Flim and Flam laughing. When he turned to face them, Flim said, "Well, that sounds like we won, don't you think, brother of mine?"

Flam nodded. "And thus, we'll have Comedy Gold work off her debt to us for busting up our engine."

Cheese didn't show it, but he could feel his blood boil. The option he had presented was perfectly fine, especially since if his parties were free despite using things normally high cost, his fixing of the engine would be as well. The mere fact that they refused so that they could have an excuse to force a party pony to join them was making him want to hit them over the head with a crowbar. He even went through a music battle against them to convince them, and he lost. All because Tomato couldn't get a grip.

Flim and Flam opened up the cage, and let 'Goldie' jump out. She glanced at Silver Shill, who seemed unusually calm considering the circumstances. So, she looked up, and listened to what they had to say.

Flim started with, "Now, now, Comedy Gold, I know you must be scared to be leaving home like this. But, I assure you, we're not bad ponies, and we'll treat you kindly. You'll be encouraged to do your best during your time with us."

Flam added, "Imagine all the places that you'll see! The ponies that you'll meet! All the attention that a pony could ever want! Why, we'll make sure you'll become a bigger party pony than Cheese Sandwich over there!"

Then they looked at Silver Shill. Flim put a hoof to his chest and said, "We still assure that there are no hard feelings from when we last met. All we ask is that you're strong enough to let her go and spread her wings."

Silver raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you let her speak for herself? Or is Silk Shimmer going to be talking for her?"

Both twins' eyes widened when they heard that. Pulling at his collar, Flim said, "Whatever do you mean, Shilly? Why would Silk Shimmer-"

That was when 'Goldie' spoke up. "Because I'm not Comedy Gold!" She pushed aside the Flim Flam Brothers with telekinesis, and then marched to the middle of the square. There, she let her disguise fade away to reveal her horn, white coat, blue and lavender streaked hair, and her magician's hat and outfit. Then, she said, "I'm Silk Shimmer."

The crowd gasped, and Cheese gaped at the reveal. Tomato was glancing over his shoulder, just as surprised at the event. Everypony started to murmur, wondering where she was going with this.

Her horn glowed, and from the engine came what looked like two small balls of yarn. "The engine isn't broken-I was just putting a couple of my smoke machines in there to frame Goldie for sabotage. She never really sabotaged us-she tried and failed to do so by hitting me with a frying pan." She winced and rubbed her head. "And I still have the bump...

She straightened up. "Yes, Flim and Flam were faking this whole thing so that they could add a party pony to the troupe. After all, party ponies are some of the strangest and most amazing ponies in Equestria-I should know, my younger brother is one. And if he was the one in this situation, I'd be just as upset as Silver Shill is. And... well... let's just say... I quit!"

The twins jumped and rushed to her. Flim begged, "Reconsider your decision, Silk Shimmer! You're our star! If you're not with us, our whole circus is going to fall apart!"

Flam took her hoof. "We'll give you a raise! We'll make the living conditions better! We... we'll give you your favorite fruit snacks!"

"Fruit snacks?" Tomato muttered.

"They're yummy, Tomato," Cheese whispered.

Silk swiped her hoof away. "After this deception, forget it. I'm not working for somepony who has to lie to get what they want. Let your circus die, I'm done with it." With that, she trotted to the train, opened up one of the cars, and levitated a sleeping Goldie out. Then she and Silver trotted away from the train and toward the Sandwiches.

Flim and Flam were stunned by Silk's words, but it wasn't long before they noticed the glares of the townsfolk. They glanced at each other, and with nervous grins, they hopped back onto the train, urged the rest of their troupe onto it, and then chugged away before anyone said a word.

Cheese snorted. "No wonder they didn't want me to fix it. It wasn't even broken!"

"I humiliated myself for nothing," Tomato grumbled.

Silk grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry for all the trouble. I should have known better than to just help them frame her and let them attempt a kidnapping like that. Silver here talked me out of going through with this."

Silver shrugged. "I just didn't want to lose my sister... especially when she's still healing. I just wish she wasn't so antsy."

Silk's eyes widened. "Oh... uh, Silver?"

"Yes?"

"We need to take her to the hospital. She hurt herself and might've ripped open an old wound or something."

Silver held a grin, squeaking like a dying mouse, and his eye twitched. After a few moments, he fainted.

* * *

 **A/N: L** **o, and behold, the Flim Flam Brothers and the Sandwich Brothers had their battle!**

 **Duh, of course Cheese and Tomato were going to lose.**


End file.
